jJSv  Of  pm~cefS 


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BV  2610  .W4A  1894 
Woman  in  missions 


WOMAN  IN  MISSIONS: 


PAPERS  AND  ADDRESSeSSSoFPBi;'^;., 

OCT  20  1933 

PRESENTED  ^T  \  >  ^ 

TEE  WOMAN'S  CONGRESS  OF  MISSI^ 

OCTOBER  2-4,  1893, 

IN   THE 

HALL  OF  COLUMBUS,  CHICAGO. 


COMPILED   BY 

y 

REV.  E.  M.  WHERRY,  D.  D., 

CORRESPONDING   SEC'Y  WORLD'S   CONGRESS   OF   MISSIONS. 


\xia 


6    AMERICAN  TRACT  SOCIETV, 

10  EAST   23d  STREET,  NEW  YORK. 


COPYRIGHT,  1S94, 
AMERICAN  TRACT  SOCIETY. 


PREFACE. 


The  great  Columbian  Exposition  of  1893  was  dis- 
tinguished above  all  other  Expositions  by  the  Series  of 
Congresses  which  were  held  in  connection  with  it. 
These  Congresses  covered  almost  every  branch  of 
science  and  art.  None  among  them  was  of  greater 
interest  to  the  multitudes  who  attended  than  the  series 
known  as  Religious  Congresses.  Among  these,  special 
interest  attached  to  the  Woman's  Congress  of  Missions, 
which  had  been  organized  and  convened  by  a  com- 
mittee of  ladies  with  Mrs.  Franklin  W.  Fisk,  of  Chi- 
cago, as  chairman.  The  programme  was  comprehen- 
sive. The  writers  and  speakers  chosen  represented 
woman's  work  in  all  parts  of  the  Christian  world.  The 
Congress  extended  over  three  days,  and  was  full  of 
interest  throughout. 

The  compiler  of  the  papers  and  addresses  contained 
in  this  volume  has  endeavored  to  present  them  in  such 
form  as  will  insure  to  the  reader  a  participation  in 
some  of  the  best  things  enjoyed  by  those  who  were 
fortunate  enough  to  be  present  at  the  Congress  itself 
Many  excellent  papers  and  addresses  presented  at  the 
Congress  have  been  omitted,  partly  from  necessity, 
partly  because   they   covered   substantially  the  same 


4  PREFACE. 

ground  as  those  now  published,  and  partly  because 
they  did  not  fall  in  with  the  special  purpose  of  this 
volume. 

While,  therefore,  this  work  cannot  be  regarded  as  a 
report  of  the  Woman's  Congress  of  Missions,  we  be- 
lieve it  will  accomplish  in  some  degree  the  purpose 
suggested  by  the  Hon.  C.  C.  Bonney,  President  of  the 
World's  Fair.  Congress  Auxiliary,  in  the  following 
words,  quoted  from  his  address  introductory  to  the 
proceedings  of  this  Congress:  "However  important 
the  proceedings  of  this  Congress  may  be  to  those 
who  will  have  the  pleasure  of  participating  in  them,  a 
thousandfold  greater  will  be  their  use  if  they  should  be 
widely  published  and  circulated  throughout  the  world. 
We  hope,  therefore,  that  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  or  some  other  providential  aid,  will  enable  us  to 
put  the  proceedings  of  this  and  the  other  Congresses 
of  this  wonderful  Exposition  season  in  the  leading 
libraries  of  the  world,  where  they  will  be  accessible  to 
those  who  lead  the  thought  of  the  world  in  the  differ- 
ent departments  of  progress."  E.  M.  w. 

Chicago,  Sept.  12, 1894. 


CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESSES. 

Introductory  Address  to  Woman's  Congress  of  Missions.. page    7 
By  Mrs.  Franklin  W.  Fisk. 

he  Reason  Why 10 

By  Mrs.  Benjamin  Douglass. 

WOMAN  AND  THE  WORLD'S  RELIGIONS. 

Woman  Under  the  Ethnic  Religions 20 

By  Mrs.  Moses  Smith. 

Women  Under  the  Jewish  and  Christian  Religions  — 36 

By  Elizabeth  Rundle  Charles. 

HISTORICAL  PAPERS  ON  WOMAN'S  MISSIONS. 

English  Female  Missionaries 57 

By  Charlotte  Mary  Yonge. 

The  Society  for  Promoting  Female  Education  in  the  East 73 

By  Miss  E.  Jane  Whately. 

History  of  Woman's  Organized  Work  as  Promoted  by  Amer- 
ican Women 83 

By  Miss  Ellen  C.  Parsons. 

The  Zenana  Bible  and  Medical  Mission 112 

By  Lord  Kinnaird. 

Woman's  Work  in  Connection  with  the  London  Missionary 

Society 121 

By  Miss  Caroline  WJiytc 


6  CONTENTS. 

WOMAN  AND  THE  AMERICAN  NEGRO. 

Woman's  Work  for  the  Afro-American 125 

By  Miss  Mary  G.  Burdetle. 

WOMAN  AND  MEDICAL  MISSIONS. 

Medical  Missions — their  Importance  145 

By  Isabella  Bird  Bislwp. 

Woman's  Medical  Work  in  Missions 156 

By  Mrs.  J.  T.  Gracey.  ^ 


THE  WORK  OF  DEACONESSES. 


Methodist  Deaconesses  in  England 17, 

By  Miss  Dora  Stephenson  {"Sister  Dora  "). 

Deaconesses  and  their  Work 182 

By  Mrs.  Lncy  Ryder  Meyer. 

WOMAN  AND  EDUCATION  IN  MISSIONS. 

Work  of  Woman's  Schools  and  Colleges  in  Missions 198 

By  Mrs.  Danvin  J?.  James. 

Place  of  Woman!s  Missionary  Work  Among  the  Evangelistic 

Forces  of  the  Church 213 

By  Mrs.  A.  F.  Schaxiffler. 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  .-. 226 

By  Edna  Dean  Proctor. 


WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 


IHTRODUCTORY  ADDRESSES. 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS. 

BY   MRS.   FRANKLIN  W.   FISK. 

There  has  been  much  confusion  in  the  minds  of 
many  people,  and  it  is  no  wonder  there  should  be,  with 
regard  to  all  the  various  Congresses  and  Conferences 
which  have  been  held  and  are  still  to  be  held  within 
these  halls.  There  have  been  many  queries  and  much 
discussion  as  to  their  significance  and  their  relative 
value.  Each  particular  Committee  has  felt  that  its 
work  was  the  most  important,  and  its  own  special 
Congress  was  paramount  to  all  others  in  importance, 
and  perhaps  the  only  one  which,  like  beauty,  was  "  its 
own  excuse  for  being." 

There  have  been  Educational,  Literary,  and  Musi- 
cal Congresses ;  Congresses  Scientific,  Medical  and 
Philosophical ;  Congresses  considering  Law  and  Order, 
Capital  and  Labor,  Moral  and  Social  Reform,  House- 
hold Economics,  and  many  other  subjects.  These  are 
all  of  acknowledged  importance  and  have  proved  emi- 
nently successful.  But  a  very  large  number  of  people 
all  over  the  world  have  been  looking  forward  to  the 


8  WOMAN  IN   MISSIONS. 

various  Religious  Congresses  with  surpassing  interest, 
as  being  those  which  should  transcend  all  others  in 
importance — which  should  include  all  the  good  to  be 
found  in  the  others,  and  should  anticipate  the  very 
highest,  the  most  far-reaching  and  permanent  results. 

It  has  been  said  that  "  the  spirit  of  Missions  is  not 
simply  a  phase  of  Christianity — it  is  Christianity  ;"  and 
also  that  the  crowning  glory  of  the  nineteenth  century 
is  the  great  work  that  woman  is  doing  for  the  elevation 
of  her  own  sex.  Accepting  these  propositions  as  true, 
it  is  upon  this  two-fold  basis  we  rest  our  claim,  and 
submit  the  question  whether  this  Woman's  Congress 
of  Christian  Missions  should  not  be  considered  pre- 
eminent in  importance,  and  demand  the  very  highest 
consideration  and  effort.  The  great  Parliament  of  Reli- 
gions, with  all  its  picturesque  impressiveness,  its  schol- 
arly addresses,  its  remarkable  magnanimity  and  toler- 
ance, will  now  belong  to  history,  and  generations  may 
pass  away  before  its  influence  will  be  fully  realized.  It 
has  taught  us  many  lessons.  "We  have  been  enter- 
tained and  instructed. 

We  recognize  much  that  is  beautiful,  much  that 
is  good  and  true,  in  the  many  religions  that  have  been 
so  lately  represented  upon  this  platform.  We  see  much 
to  admire  and  even  to  love  in  their  representatives. 
We  believe  that  "  of  a  truth  God  is  no  respecter  of 
persons,  but  in  every  nation  he  that  feareth  God  and 
worketh  righteousness  is  accepted  of  Him."  But  we 
also  believe  that  "  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave 
his  only-begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him 
should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."  "There 
is  none  other  name  under  heaven  given  among  men, 
whereby  we  must  be  saved." 


INTRODUCTORY   ADDRESSES.  9 

We  may  see  much  to  admire  in  the  teachings  of 
Confucius  or  of  Buddha,  and  yet  we  know  their  names 
"  with  His  great  name  are  no  more  worthy  to  keep 
company  than  the  pale  fire-fly  with  the  risen  sun." 
And  are  we  not  more  than  ever  sure  that  the  much 
boasted  "  Light  of  Asia"  is  but  as  the  milky  way  com- 
pared with  that  purer,  brighter  radiance  which  ema- 
nates from  him  who  hath  himself  declared,  "  I  am  the 
light  of  the  world  "? 

Therefore  it  seems  most  fitting  that  this  great  Par- 
liament of  Religions  should  be  so  closely  followed  by 
this  World's  Congress  of  Missions.  As  we  are  made 
more  familiar  with  these  blind  gropings  after  truth,  as 
we  are  brought  to  a  keener  realization  of  the  universal 
need  of  mankind,  do  we  not  the  more  fully  realize  the 
all-sufficient  power  of  the  gospel  of  Christ  to  supply 
that  need  ?  Are  we  not  more  than  ever  grateful  for 
our  own  glorious  heritage,  and  also  more  than  ever 
desirous  to  shower  its  blessings  over  all  the  earth  ? 

We  know  in  whom  we  have  believed,  and  he  hath 
bidden  us  declare  what  truth  we  know.  And  so  may 
this  Congress  of  Missions,  whose  watchword  shall  be 
Jesus  only,  inspire  all  hearts  and  minds  with  fresh 
enthusiasm  in  his  service.  May  it  bring  to  each  of  us 
a  heightened  sense  of  our  own  responsibility,  and  awa- 
ken in  us  new  strength  and  courage  for  his  work.  May 
it  bring  to  us  a  firmer  faith,  a  calm  reliance  upon  "  the 
sure  word  of  prophecy,"  and  a  brighter  hope  for  the 
speedy  coming  of  the  time  "  when  the  earth  shall  be 
filled  with,  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  as  the  waters 
cover  the  sea." 

And  amid  all  the  calls  that  come  to  us  for  help, 
above  all  the  voices  that  cry  to  us  from  every  land, 


10  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

above  the  voice  of  duty  itself,  may  we  ever  hear  the 
voice  of  Christ  in  that  sweet  invitation  to  nations  as 
well  as  to  individuals,  "  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor 
and  are  heavy-laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest." 


THE   REASON    WHY. 

BY   MRS.   BENJAMIN  DOUGLASS. 

"  The  Reason  Why,"  I  find  assigned  on  the  pro- 
gramme as  my  topic  at  the  opening  of  "  The  World's 
Congress  Auxiliary  on  Christian  Missions."  There  is 
a  kind  of  indefinite  definiteness  about  the  subject  which 
at  first  seems  perplexing.  My  limits  are  very  strictly 
circumscribed.  Had  only  the  little  additional  letter 
"  s  "  been  allowed  me — "  The  Reason.?  Why  " — I 
should  have  been  entitied  to  give  free  rein  to  fancy 
and  speculation,  and  to  present  many  possible  reasons 
for  our  assembling  together,  leaving  my  audience  fi-ee 
to  choose  from  among  them  any  which  they  Judged 
most  adequate.  Or  had  I  even  been  given  an  indefi- 
nite article — "A  Reason  Why" — I  could  have  pre- 
sented one  out  of  many  reasons  which  might  seem 
equally  worthy  of  acceptance.  But  no  such  privilege 
is  allowed  me.  I  am  restricted  by  a  definite  article  to 
a  single  reason — "  The  Reason  Why."  Apparendy  the 
Committee  in  charge  thought  there  was  but  one  reason 
worthy  of  being  presented  as  a  sufficient  inducement 
for  the  gathering  together  of  this  representative  body 
from  the  East  and  from  the  West,  from  the  North  and 
from  the  South. 

If  this  be  so,  if  but   one  is   necessary,  why  be 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESSES.  II 

encumbered  with  many?  Where  one  suffices,  more 
are  superfluous.  I  remember  that  my  husband  used  to 
say  years  ago,  when  that  great  lawyer,  Charles  O'Con- 
or,  of  New  York,  had  charge  of  important  matters  in 
litigation,  that  his  clients,  and  even  his  associate  coun- 
sel, often  felt  that  their  case  would  be  surely  lost  because 
he  would  concede  so  much  to  his  opponents — declining 
to  contest  this  or  that  argument  which  seemed  to  him 
immaterial,  but  that  finally,  after  they  had  exhausted 
themselves,  he  would  bring  forward  one  vital,  funda- 
mental point  on  which  he  was  willing  to  risk  and  rest 
the  whole  case.  And  well  might  he  do  so,  for  so 
incontrovertible  was  the  argument  founded  upon  it 
that,  like  a  great  sledge-hammer,  it  battered  down  all 
the  enemy's  defences,  grinding  them  to  powder,  and 
leaving  them  to  be  swept  away  like  chaff  before  the 
whirlwind.  One  such  point  was  enough.  Why  em- 
barrass the  court  with  a  multiplicity  of  arguments  when 
one  sufficed  ?  What  need  of  a  fusillade  of  small  arms 
when  Long  Tom  has  the  range  and  can  cover  effec- 
tively the  entire  field  ?  Why  light  innumerable  tiny 
tapers  when  through  one  electric  flash  "  the  night  shi- 
neth  as  the  day"? 

Need  I  complain,  then,  that  I  am  hampered  by 
being  limited  to  a  single  reason  ?  Not  if  that  is  one 
which  minifies  and  swallows  up  all  others,  a  supreme, 
ultimate,  comprehensive  reason,  embracing  within  its 
scope  the  whole  wide  range  of  earth  and  heaven,  time 
and  eternity,  God  and  man.  One  such  reason  all 
would  be  constrained  to  accept  as  a  sufficient  founda- 
tion on  which  to  base  the  whole  superstructure  of 
Christian  Missions  and  to  lead  them  to  build  wisely 
and  well  upon  it.     What  single  reason,  then,  can  I  pre- 


12  WOMAN  IN   MISSIONS. 

sent  as  entirely  adequate  for  the  calling  together  of  this 
great  assembly  in  the  highest  interests  of  humanity? 
Could  there  be  one  profounder  or  more  sublime,  one 
that  could  more  move  to  vigorous  action,  than  that 
embodied  in  the  song  of  the  heavenly  hosts  which  her- 
alded to  the  congress  of  shepherds  the  advent  to  earth 
of  its  first  great  Foreign  Missionary :  "  Glory  to  God, 
good  will  to  man  "  ?  Surely  all  other  reasons  for  mis- 
sion work  are  subordinate  to  and  summed  up  in  this 
sublime  and  only  reason  which  brought  the  Saviour 
from  heaven  to  earth,  and  which  alone  can  stimulate 
the  saved  to  Christlike  service  in  saving  others.  God's 
glory  as  magnified  in  good  will  to  man,  and  man's 
resulting  obligations  to  God  and  his  fellows,  what 
theme  is  comparable  to  this  for  arousing  the  highest 
thought  and  enlisting  the  noblest  endeavor?  Well 
might  the  attention  of  the  whole  human  race  be  con- 
centrated on  this  one  vital  point — man's  good,  God's 
glory. 

But  am  I  transcending  my  limits  ?  Are  not  these 
two  things  distinct  and  separate  ?  Nay,  verily,  they 
are  made  one  through  inextricable  blending  and  weav- 
ing together,  as  seven  colors  blended  make  but  one 
beam  of  light.  They  are  two  halves  of  a  perfect 
whole—  twin  hemispheres,  which,  "  fitly  joined  togeth- 
er," make  up  the  whole  rounded  sphere  of  love  and 
duty. 

But  how  can  one  touch  on  so  comprehensive  a 
theme  in  a  few  brief  moments  of  time?  "  It  is  as  high 
as  heaven — what  can  one  do  ?  The  measure  thereof  is 
longer  than  the  earth  and  broader  than  the  sea."  It  is 
a  soundless  depth  which  no  finite  intelligence  can 
fathom.     Yet  it  is  our  privilege  and  our  duty  rever- 


INTRODUCTORY   ADDRESSES.  I3 

ently  to  look  through  the  glass  of  revelation  and  to  see 
how  the  glory  of  "  Him  who  is  invisible  "  shines  forth 
preeminently  in  his  wonderful  dealings  with  the  human 
race. 

Were  God's  glory  and  his  good  will  to  man 
manifested  in  nature  only,  it  should  call  forth  un- 
bounded praise  and  adoration.  Every  fruit  and  flower, 
beast  and  bird,  star  and  sun,  attests  the  greatness  and 
goodness  of  its  Originator.  But  the  creation  of  ani- 
mate or  inanimate  nature — of  an  orange,  for  instance, 
built  up  mechanically,  as  it  were,  into  symmetrical  sec- 
tions, stored  with  delicious  juice,  and  coated  with  ham- 
mered gold :  of  a  rose,  with  its  graceful  form,  vivid 
coloring  and  delicate  fragrance  ;  of  a  humming-bird, 
gay  of  plumage  and  swift  of  wing ;  of  behemoth  and 
leviathan,  even  of  Arcturus  and  Orion — the  creation 
of  all  these  might  have  been,  as  it  were,  the  Creator's 
pastime ;  but  when  God  made  man  he  gave  Himself  : 
fashioning  him  in  His  own  image,  not  by  some  external 
manipulation  merely,  but  by  the  in-breathing  of  a 
breath  of  life — the  bestowal  of  a  living  soul.  The 
body,  wondrously  adapted  as  it  is  to  the  soul's  needs, 
is  still  but  its  tent  to  dwell  in,  while  the  soul  received 
at  its  birth  the  ineffaceable  stamp  of  immortality.  Free 
communication  with  his  Maker  was  also  made  man's 
privilege,  and  no  compulsory  power  could  be  brought 
to  bear  on  him  which  would  inevitably  swerve  him 
from  his  natural  relations  of  love  and  allegiance.  Could 
higher  evidence  be  given  than  this  of  God's  "  good  will 
to  man  "  ?  Yes ;  wonderful  as  this  is  there  are  heights 
beyond.  Redemption  far  outranks  creation  in  glory. 
To  create  was  great — to  re-create  greater.  When 
man  voluntarily  forfeited  his  God-given  privileges,  with 


14  WOMAN  IN  MISSIONS. 

full  knowledge  of  the  dread  consequences  of  disobe- 
dience, he  was  helpless  to  save  himself,  and  none 
"  could  by  any  means  redeem  his  brother  or  give  to 
God  a  ransom  for  him."  Eternal  loss  seemed  inevit- 
able. But  it  was  the  glory  of  Divinity  to  come  to  the 
rescue  of  humanit)'.  "  Help  was  laid  upon  One  mighty 
to  save."  He  who  was  "the  brightness  of  the  Fa- 
ther's glory,  the  express  image  of  his  person,"  became 
"  near  of  kin  "  to  us.  "  Son  of  God,  Son  of  Mary,  Son 
of  man  ;  the  generic  term,"  as  one  has  said,  "  including 
the  specific  as  if  the  blood  of  the  whole  human  race 
were  in  his  veins."  He,  the  essential  essence  of  Deity, 
the  consummate  flower  of  humanity,  voluntarily  paid 
the  wages  of  man's  sin,"  bearing  in  his  own  person 
the  full  equivalent  of  the  punishment  due  to  the  sins 
of  a  world.  Is  not  this  perfect  vindication  of  justice  at 
infinite  personal  cost,  this  "  love  beyond  all  mortal 
thought,"  an  ideal  which  unaided  imagination  could 
never  have  reached,  a  conception  of  which  no  religion 
but  Christianity  has  given  the  faintest  foreshadowing  ? 
Surely  such  evidence  as  this  of  God's  good  will  to  man 
more  magnifies  his  glory  than  even  the  heavens  de- 
clare or  the  firmament  showeth  forth. 

"  Its  height,  its  depth,  oh,  who  can  span — 
Glory  to  God  and  grace  to  man  !" 

But  was  salvation  from  eternal  loss  all  that  redemp- 
tion implied  of  God's  good  will  to  man  ?  Ah,  there 
are  still  higher  heights  beyond  our  climbing — themes 
passing  comprehension :  sonship,  real  •  and  unchal- 
lenged ;  joint-heirship  to  an  undefiled  and  incorruptible 
inheritance  ;  partnership,  a  word  we  should  not  dare 
to  use  did  not  the  inerrant  word  of  inspiration  write  us 
down  "  partakers  of  the  divine  nature ;"  unification  of 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESSES.  1 5 

the  creature  with  the  Creator :  "  unutterable  things," 
even  a  ghmpse  of  which  by  the  apostle  caught  up  into 
the  third  heavens  caused  him  to  exclaim,  "  Eye  hath  not 
seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  have  entered  ipto  the  heart 
of  man,  the  things  which  God  hath  prepared  for  them 
that  love  him." 

Is  all  this  glorious  vision  of  the  past  and  the 
future  something  with  which  we  of  the  living  present 
have  nothing  to  do  but  to  gaze  at,  appropriate  and 
admire  ?  Have  we  no  part  in  making  known  to  men, 
the  wide  world  over,  the  exceeding  riches  of  God's 
grace  ?  Ah,  God  has  given  added  proof  of  his  good 
will  to  man  in  permitting  his  redeemed  ones  the 
glorious  privilege  of  association  with  him  in  the  work 
of  redemption  :  "  committing  unto  their  trust  the  words 
of  reconciliation,"  commanding  them  to  offer  unto  all 
nations  the  glorious  gospel  of  the  everlasting  God, 
promising  them  his  own  pecuUar  presence  in  the  work, 
and  sharing  with  them  his  own  joy  "  in  bringing  many 
sons  to  glory."  Co-operation  with  the  King  of  the 
universe  in  a  work  so  divine  confers  a  patent  of  no- 
bility on  the  humblest  of  his  subjects.  "  Now  then 
are  we  ambassadors  for  Christ,  as  though  God  did 
beseech  you  by  us  ;"  we  are  to  pray  the  world  in  Christ's 
stead,  "  Be  ye  reconciled  to  God."  This  bugle-call  of 
our  great  Commander,  "  Go,  teach  all  nations,"  summons 
to  action,  continuous  action,  from  the  time  of  his  as- 
cension to  receive  the  kingdom  till  he  return  again  to 
claim  it.  "  But  who  may  abide  the  day  of  his  coming  ? 
who  shall  stand  when  he  appeareth  ?"  For  he  shall  sit 
as  a  refiner  and  purifier  of  silver  and  purge  away  the 
dross  of  our  earthliness  and  indifference,  and  our 
wretched  shreds  of  excuses  for  neglecting  to  execute 


l6  WOMAN  IN  MISSIONS. 

his  great  commission  will  be  shrivelled  up  in  the  heat 
of  his  fiery  indignation,  and  if  we  are  saved  at  all  it  will 
be  so  as  by  fire. 

Assembled,  then,  as  we  are  to-day,  in  the  name  of 
Christ,  "  looking  for  the  blessed  hope  and  appearing 
of  the  glory  of  our  great  God  and  Saviour,"  it  be- 
comes us  to  consider  well  whether  we  are  one  with 
him  "whose  we  are,  and  whom  we  "  profess  to  "  serve," 
in  his  great  purpose  of  good  will  to  man.  Have  we 
proved  ourselves  to  the  extent  of  our  ability  "  workers 
together  with  God,"  in  sending  "  good  tidings  of 
great  joy  to  all  people"?  There  should  be  "great 
searchings  of  heart "  in  this  matter.  If  we  have  vir- 
tually echoed  Cain's  sneer,  "  Am  I  my  brother's 
keeper?"  if  with  that  selfishness  which  is  the  world's 
bane  we  have  been  content  to  "  eat  the  fat  and  drink 
the  sweet "  of  the  gospel  feast,  sending  no  "  portions 
to  them  for  whom  nothing  is  prepared,"  we  may  well 
fear  the  doom  of  those  who  refuse  to  share  their  good 
things  with  others,  "  I  will  even  curse  your  blessings," 
and  that  the  gifts  of  God's  bounty  of  which  we  make 
our  boast  be  taken  from  us  and  "given  to  a  nation 
bringing  forth  the  fruits  thereof" 

Let  us,  as  we  sit  in  Congress  assembled,  diagnose 
carefully  the  condition  of  the  church  whose  well-being 
and  extension  is  our  highest  aim ;  and  if  we  find  it 
plethoric,  congested,  frigid  or  paralytic,  let  us  not 
touch  the  matter  lightly.  It  demands  heroic,  not 
superficial  treatment.  Let  us  not  fear  to  thrust  in  the 
probe  and  let  out  the  venom  of  selfishness  ;  to  apply 
such  stimulants  as  shall  excite  its  powers  to  vigorous 
action.  Stagnation  means  death  and  putrescence.  A 
living,  healthy  church   is   of  necessity   an   aggressive 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESSES.  1 7 

church.  Genuine  Christianity  is  saturated  with  the 
missionary  spirit.  It  throbs  and  palpitates  with  an 
onward  movement.  It  is  convinced  that  its  mission  is 
the  evangelization  of  the  world,  and  how  is  it  straitened 
till  it  be  accomplished !  It  hears  the  pathetic  cry  of 
the  nations,  "  Our  fathers  have  inherited  vanities  and 
lies,  things  wherein  no  profit  is,"  and  it  hastens  to  in- 
troduce to  them  the  one  God  and  Father  of  all,  and 
to  persuade  them  to  turn  from  idols  unto  the  living 
God  and  to  wait  for  his  Son  from  heaven.  It  recognizes 
the  truth  that  "  principalities  and  powers  in  the  heavenly 
places  "  are  to  learn  through  the  church  new  lessons 
of  the  manifold  wisdom  of  God  ;  and  it  would  not 
keep  angelic  learners  in  the  lowest  form,  teaching 
them  merely  the  alphabet  of  religion,  but  would  de- 
monstrate to  them  the  marvellous  power  of  God  in 
"  exalting  them  of  low  degree ;"  in  enabling  ignorant, 
untutored  souls  to  understand  and  apply  the  highest 
science,  even  "  the  dispensation  of  the  mystery  which 
from  all  ages  hath  been  hid  in  God,"  but  which  is  now 
revealed  in  his  "  work  for  man  through  man." 

It  becomes  us  in  this  Congress  of  Missions  to 
make  clearly  understood  the  wide  world  over  that 
the  reason  for  our  assembling  here  is  that  "according 
to  the  riches  of  God's  glory,"  and  in  furtherance  of  his 
purposes  of  good  will  to  man,  we,  with  an  unselfishness 
which  is  his  gift,  will  strive  to  make  all  men  everywhere 
"  comprehend  with  all  saints  what  is  the  breadth  and 
length  and  depth  and  height,  and  to  know  the  love  of 
Christ,  which  passeth  knowledge,"  that  they  too  may 
be  "  filled  with  all  the  fulness  of  God."  How  can  we 
accomplish  this  gigantic  undertaking?  This  is  the 
question  of  questions  for  the  church  of  God  to-day ; 

Woman  id  MIesions.  2 


1 8  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

not,  how  can  we  give  all  men  our  civilization,  our 
education,  our  commerce,  though  all  these  will  follow 
in  Christianity's  train,  but  how  can  we  make  known  to 
them  our  Christ  ?  Never  was  a  time  more  ripe  than 
this  for  the  wide  dissemination  of  gospel  truth.  "  The 
world  is  all  before  us  where  to  choose."  "  Many  run 
to  and  fro  and  knowledge  is  increased."  Humanity 
groans  under  a  pressure  of  intolerable  evils.  All  honor 
to  those  who  in  the  name  of  philanthropy  attempt  to 
mitigate  physical  ills,  who  "stretch  out  their  hands  to 
the  poor  and  needy."  But  what  poverty  so  great  as 
poverty  of  spirit  ?  What  needs  so  great  as  soul  needs  ? 
By  so  much  as  the  tenant  outranks  the  tenement,  by 
so  much  as  the  immortal  is  beyond  that  which  is  per- 
ishing, by  so  much  as  eternity  transcends  time,  let  the 
souls  of  men  have  your  profoundest  interest — your 
most  unremitting  attention.  If  t;onvinced  that  the 
greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number  most  greatiy 
redounds  to  the  glory  of  God,  then  devise  the  wisest 
methods  for  reaching  the  greatest  number  with  the 
highest  good  in  the  shortest  time.  Don't  waste  time 
in  answering  objections  to  the  cause.  We  are  past  that 
age.  We  have  no  chair  of  Apologetics  for  Missions. 
We  are  "  elect  unto  obedience,"  and  the  simple  com- 
mand of  our  divine  Leader  is  the  only  needed  spur  to 
action.  Let  love  to  him  be  the  motive  power  which 
sets  all  our  machinery  in  motion,  the  driving  wheel 
which  guides  it  in  the  right  direction.  Only  an  en- 
thusiasm for  the  God-man  can  produce  that  "  enthu- 
siasm for  humanity"  which  religion  is  defined  to  be. 
The  love  of  God  which  passeth  knowledge  must  be 
shed  abroad  in  the  hearts  of  all  who  would  do  success- 
ful work  for  him.     Oh,  if  this  Congress  of  Missions  is 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESSES.  I9 

Stirred  with  a  desire  for  God's  glory  and  man's  good 
"  as  the  trees  of  the  wood  are  stirred  by  a  mighty  wind," 
if  hearts  here  are  opened  wide  to  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
he  enkindles  there  a  flame  of  love  to  God  and  man,  then 
its  zeal  will  stir  many.  It  will  prove  that  it  had  indeed 
a  "  raison  d'etre  "  and  its  result  will  be  the  inaugura- 
tion of  such  an  era  of  propagandism  of  the  true  faith  as 
the  world  has  never  before  known.  Let  us  make  it 
our  mission  to  lift  before  man's  despairing  eyes  the 
divine  Deliverer  ;  to  flash  forth  that  great  search- 
light, "  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God 
in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ,"  into  the  thickest  darkness; 
to  lay  hold  with  united  power  on  that  gospel  lever 
which  alone  can  lift  up  from  its  depth  the  black  soil 
of  humanity  into  the  sweet  influences  of  sun,  wind  and 
dew,  light,  love  and  life  as  revealed  in  Father,  Son  and 
Spirit.  So  shall  the  angels'  song  at  our  Lord's  first 
advent,  "  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  on  earth  peace, 
good  will  to  men,"  be  gloriously  supplemented  at  his 
triumphal  return  by  the  grand  choral  of  "  multitudes 
redeemed  unto  God  out  of  every  kindred,  people, 
tongue  and  nation,"  who  shall  lift  up  glad  voices  in 
the  new  song, 

"  Unto  Him  that  loved  us, 
And  washed  us  from  our  sins  in  his  own  blood, 
.And  hath  made  us  kings  and  priests  unto  God  and  his  Father> 
Be  glory  and  dominion  forever  and  ever." 


20  WOMAN   IN    MISSIONS. 


WOMAN  AND  THE  WORLD'S  RELIGIONS. 

JVOMA  N  UNDER  THE  E  THNIC  RELIGIONS. 

BY   MRS.    MOSES   SMITH. 

For  two  weeks  we  have  been  listening  to  the 
presentation  of  religions.  We  have  heard  philosophies 
of  religion  profound  and  subtle,  to  some  minds  fasci- 
nating in  their  grace  and  mysticism.  It  may  be  a 
wholesome,  if  not  so  agreeable  a  thing  now  to  have 
our  attention  called  to  the  practical  workings  of  some 
of  these  religions  and  their  effect  on  the  life  and  destiny 
of  man.  Moreover,  as  missionary  workers,  it  is  wise 
for  us  to  know  not  only  the  present  needs  of  the  peo- 
ple, but  the  religious  forces  which  long  centuries  have 
wrought  into  every  tissue  of  their  thought,  feeling  and 
action. 

Without  question  religion  is  the  supreme  force  in 
history.  Religion  creates  the  ideals  and  aspirations, 
and  so  chisels  the  character  of  mankind.  In  the  order 
of  nature  the  worshipper  becomes  like  the  being  wor- 
shipped.    "As  a  man  thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he." 

The  world  has  known  many  religions,  some  of 
them  eminent  for  the  tremendous  power  with  which 
they  have  held  millions  in  their  sway  over  centuries 
of  time ;  eminent  also  for  profound  philosophy,  lofty 
ideals,  and  sometimes  a  high  morality.  Our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  gave  us  the  test  for  himself  and  his  teach- 
ing :  "  By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them."  The  con- 
ditions of  society,  temporal  and  spiritual,  are  the  fruits 
by  which  any  religious  system  may  be  known. 


WOMAN  UNDER  THE  ETHNIC    RELIGIONS.      21 

In  the  nature  of  things  the  factor  that  most  univer- 
sally moulds  society  is  woman.  The  boy  is  father  of 
the  man,  but  the  woman  is  mother  of  the  boy ;  hence 
the  study  of  the  teaching  of  any  religion  concerning 
woman,  and  of  her  character  and  place  in  society  as 
the  result  of  that  religion,  is  vital  both  to  the  correct 
understanding  of  the  system  and  of  what  it  has  wrought 
for  the  world. 

The  most  venerable  and  possibly  the  most  power- 
ful ethnic  religion  is  Brahmanism.  Rising  in  India 
when  that  was  the  land  of  literature  and  art,  the  home 
of  the  cultured  Aryans,  for  fifteen  centuries  this  religion 
wrought  unhindered  on  the  people.  At  first  a  simple 
nature  worship,  it  degenerated  into  a  pantheon  in  which 
all  the  powers  of  nature  were  gods.  On  this  was  built 
a  sacerdotalism  with  caste  and  idol  worship.  It  be- 
came an  oppressive  tyranny.  At  this  juncture,  500 
years  before  Christ,  a  new  and  forcible  factor  entered 
the  life  of  the  people  in  the  birth  of  a  king's  son, 
Gautama  Buddha,  known  in  history  as  the  great  re- 
former of  Brahminism.  I  have  no  time  to  speak  of 
the  fierce  theological  war  that  ensued — for  400  years — 
or  of  the  bright  coup  d'etat  of  the  Brahmans  in  final- 
ly accepting  Buddha  as  the  ninth  incarnation  of 
Vishnu. 

Each  of  these  systems  evinces  profound  thought 
and  lofty  ideals.  Buddhism  a  high  morality.  Each 
contains  elements  of  truth,  and  each  has  a  tremendous 
power  in  the  history  of  the  race.  Striving  for  suprem- 
acy on  the  same  field,  the  result  was  a  coalition.  To- 
gether they  enter  the  stream  of  history  under  the  name 
of  Hindooism.  The  time  has  been  long  enough,  the 
field  favorable  and  broad  enough  for  the  completest 


22  WOMAN   IN    MISSIONS. 

results,  and  the  present  condition  of  society  affords  us 
opportunity  to  see  the  results. 

Sir  Monier  Williams,  the  distinguished  Sanscrit 
scholar  of  Oxford,  says  :  "Although  India  in  the  early 
periods  of  Brahmanism  was  a  land  of  literature  and 
science,  the  present  characteristics  are  poverty,  ignor- 
ance and  superstition.  Whatever  profound  thought 
lay  about  the  roots  of  Hindooism,  it  held  and  still  holds 
the  280,000,000  of  India  in  the  bondage  of  degradation, 
cruelty  and  immoraUty."  "  The  average  income  per 
individual  is  less  than  that  of  any  other  civilized  coun- 
try, barely  $13  50  per  year,  against  $20  even  for  the 
Turks,  $165  for  every  Englishman,  and  $200  for  every 
man,  woman  and  child  in  the  United  States."*  Dr. 
John  Short,  Surgeon  General  of  India,  long  resident 
among  the  people,  says,  "  Wherever  the  Hindoo  reli- 
gion predominates,  there  immorality  and  debauchery 
run  riot." 

The  Code  of  Manu  is  the  highest 
eac  ings.  rgiigjous  authority  among  the  Hindoos. 
You  ask  a  Hindoo  about  the  date  and  age  of  his  great 
law-giver  and  he  quickly  replies,  "  He  was  the  son  of 
the  self-existent  Brahm."  Manu's  whole  teaching 
about  woman  is  based  on  the  assumption  of  her  impu- 
rity. For  instance,  a  Brahman  is  enjoined  "  to  suspend 
reading  the  Veda  if  a  woman  come  in  sight."  Her 
ear  is  not  pure  enough  to  hear  what  the  vilest  man  may 
read.  "  Though  unobservant  of  approved  usages,  or 
enamoured  of  another  woman,  or  devoid  of  good  qual- 
ities, yet  a  husband  must  be  revered  as  a  god  by  a  vir- 
tuous wife."t 

"  Let  the  wife  who  wishes  to  perform  sacred  obla- 
»  Rev.  N.  G.  Clark,  D.  D.        f  Dharma  Sastra,  ch.  3,  p.  154. 


WOMAN    UNDER  THE  ETHNIC  RELIGIONS.       23 

tion  wash  the  feet  of  her  husband  and  drink  the  water, 
for  the  husband  is  to  the  wife  greater  than  Vishnu." 
Again,  "  Women  have  no  business  with  the  text  of  a 
sacred  book,  and  having  no  evidence  of  law,  and  no 
knowledge  of  expiatory  texts,  sinful  woman  must  be 
foul  as  falsehood  itself,  and  this  is  a  fixed  rule."*  And 
it  has  remained  fixed  for  forty-three  centuries. 

The    modern    Brahmans    like   to 

Seclusion.  ,    ■  1  i  r   • 

claim  that  the  present  custom  01  im- 
muring their  wives  in  prison-like  rooms  had  its  origin 
in  the  Mohammedan  invasion.  This  is  certainly  not 
the  whole  truth,  for  in  the  unalterable  law  of  Manu, 
written  900  years  before  Christ,  we  read,  "A  woman  is 
not  allowed  to  go  out  of  the  house  without  the  consent 
of  her  husband,  she  may  not  laugh  without  a  veil  over 
her  face  or  look  out  of  a  door  or  a  window."  "  It  may 
be  that  when  the  Mohammedans  came,  some  fifteen 
centuries  after  these  laws  had  been  in  force,  they  put 
the  crown  on  the  arch  already  waiting  for  them.  They 
may  have  tightened  the  chains  by  which  woman  was 
already  enslaved,"t  but  the  teachings  of  Manu  are  suf- 
ficient to  account  for  all  we  see  in  India  to-day. 

The  people  of  the  Western  World 

have  long  wondered  why  the  Hindoos 
were  so  tenacious  of  their,  to  us,  revolting  custom  of 
child  marriage.  It  is  only  when  we  learn  that  it  is  not 
simply  a  custom  but  a  part  of  their  religion  that  we 
apprehend  the  reason.  The  sacred  laws  of  the  Hindoo 
declare,  "  If  a  daughter  is  married  at  the  age  of  six 
the  father  is  certain  to  ascend  to  the  highest  heaven. 
If  the  daughter  is  not  married  before  seven  the  father 

*  Dharma  Sastra,  chap.  5,  pages  155,  156. 
t  Wilkin's  "  Modern  Hindooism,"  page  326. 


^4  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

will  only  reach  the  second  heaven.  If  a  daughter  is 
not  married  until  the  age  of  ten  the  father  can  only 
attain  the  lowest  place  assigned  the  blessed.  If  a  girl 
is  not  married  until  she  is  eleven  years  of  age  all  her 
progenitors  for  six  generations  will  suffer  pains  and 
penalties."*  When  recendy  an  effort  was  made  to 
induce  the  Government  to  raise  the  legal  age  of  mar- 
riage to  twelve  years,  great  excitement  prevailed.  The 
Brahmans  set  apart  days  of  fasting  and  prayer.  Multi- 
tudes came  in  processions  to  the  temples,  in  some  cases 
beating  their  breasts  and  calling  aloud  to  the  gods  to 
spare  them  from  such  calamity. 

The  worst  feature  of  the  system  of  child  marriage 
is  seen  among  the  Kulin  Brahmans,  the  highest  of  all. 
Girls  in  these  families  must  not  marry  into  a  lower 
caste,  and  the  supply  of  Kulins  is  limited,  so  fathers 
who  have  not  money  to  induce  some  young  men  to 
marry  their  daughters  are  compelled  to  give  their 
litde  girls  to  those  who  make  a  living  by  being  hus- 
bands. Thus  a  child  of  twelve  may  be  given  as  the 
fortieth  or  fiftieth  wife  of  some  old  man.  Although  it 
is  certain  she  will  soon  be  a  widow,  even  that  is  prefer- 
able to  allowing  her  to  remain  unmarried. 

"  The    code    of    Manu    forbids    a 

Infanticide.  ...  „. 

woman  to  read  the  scripture  or  otter 
prayer  by  herself.  She  is  to  have  no  individuality. 
She  exists  only  in  her  father  or  her  husband :  without 
a  husband  she  is  soulless."  This  doctrine  bears  its 
legitimate  fruit  m  the  custom  of  murdering  infant  girls. 
It  is  easy  reasoning  that  it  is  better  to  murder  a  soul- 
less child  than  not  to  be  able  to  betroth  her,  and  so 
bring  disgrace  on  the  whole  family. 

*  "  Women  of  the  Orient,"  page  135. 


WOMAN  UNDER  THE   ETHNIC  RELIGIONS.      2$ 

"  The  Hindoo  sacred  books  reach 
*  °^^'  their~cUmax  of  cruelty  in  the  require- 
ments concerning  the  widow.  She  may  have  been 
only  a  betrothed  infant  or  a  child  of  a  few  years.  It 
makes  no  difference."  The  Shasters  teach  that  if  the 
widow  burns  herself  alive  on  the  funeral  pile  of  her 
husband,  even  though  he  had  killed  a  Brahman,  that 
most  heinous  of  deeds,  she  expiates  the  crime.  For 
long  centuries  widows  have  been  a  literal  burnt  offer- 
ing for  the  redemption  of  husbands..  The  English 
Government  has  prohibited  the  suttee,  but,  being  con- 
sidered by  the  family  as  one  rejected  of  the  gods,  the 
widow's  life  is  such  a  degradation,  such  a  sorrow,  it 
would  seem  merciful  to  let  her  die.  Manu  wrote,  "  Let 
not  a  widow  ever  pronounce  the  name  of  another  man, 
for  by  remarriage  she  brings  disgrace  on  herself  here 
below,  and  shall  be  excluded  from  the  seat  of  her 
Lord."  To-day  in  India  under  the  Hindoo  religion  the 
widow  may  not  take  food  more  than  once  in  the  day. 
She  must  go  without  food  and  water  for  forty- eight 
hours  twice  in  the  month.  At  a  meeting  of  the  highest 
religious  court  a  few  years  ago  it  was  gravely  decreed 
that  if,  acting  on  medical  advice,  a  widow  did  some- 
times take  a  little  water  on  fast  day,  the  offence  might 
be  condoned.  Oh  the  burning  pathos  of  the  Hindoo 
widow's  prayer :  "  O  God,  let  no  more  women  be  born 
in  this  land!"  India  has  now  21,000,000  of  widows, 
nearly  100,000  of  them  under  nine  years. 

Hindooism     touches     its     lowest 

The  Nautch  Girl.      ,         ,        .         ,  ,  ,      . 

depths  in  the  degradation  of  woman 
in  what  the  enlightened  Hindoo,  Mr.  Mozoomdar, 
called  in  the  Parliament  of  Religions  "consecrated 
prostitution  "  of  the  Nautch  or  dancing  girls  in  the 


26  WOMAN    IN    MISSIONS. 

temples.  The  subject  is  too  delicate  and  too  horrible 
for  me  to  speak  of  in  detail,  but  as  it  is  a  much 
honored  part  of  this  religion  it  cannot  be  omitted. 
The  Brahmans  claim  that  it  is  a  most  sacred  service, 
having  its  origin  in  prehistoric  ages  in  a  promise  made 
by  Vishnu  himself.  In  a  few  words  the  reason  and 
method  is  this :  Parents  who  have  a  son  very  ill  will 
vow  to  some  god  that  if  the  son's  life  is  spared  they  will 
consecrate  a  litde  girl  to  the  temple ;  or  the  parents,  be- 
lieving that  hqnor  or  wealth  will  be  the  result,  conse- 
crate a  girl  to  the  god ;  or  the  Brahmans  select  the  most 
beautiful  Uttle  girls,  the  parents  rejoicing  in  the  relig- 
ious honor. 

From  the  hour  of  consecration  the  little  thing  is 
treated  with  peculiar  respect.  She  alone  of  the  girls  of 
the  family  is  taught  to  read.  When  she  becomes  ten 
or  twelve  years  old,  her  father,  mother  and  nearest 
relatives  take  her  to  the  great  temple.  They  go  with 
the  priest  into  the  inner  shrine.  The  girl  places  her 
hand  in  the  idol's  hand,  the  priest  repeats  certain 
prayers  and  charms.  He  then  hangs  a  wreath  of  cow- 
rie shells  around  the  girl's  neck  and  the  poor  little 
thing  repeats  after  him  her  marriage  vow,  which  vow  is 
to  prostitute  herself  to  any  pilgrim  to  the  shrine  who 
demands  it.*  The  position  of  these  religious  prostitutes 
in  Hindoo  society  is  so  highly  respectable  that  no  festi- 
val or  wedding  is  celebrated  without  their  presence. 
They  are  asked  to  tie  the  wifely  ornaments  on  the  neck 
of  the  bnde.  They,  bemg  married  to  a  god,  can  never 
be  widowed,  and  their  touch  is  lucky.  In  elegant  attire, 
with  cosdy  jewels  and  perfumes,  charmingly  graceful, 
they  lead  their  wretched  lives,  bnng  great  sums  into  the 
*  Prof.  T.  M.  Lindsay,  University  of  Glasgow. 


WOMAN  UNDER  THE   ETHNIC   RELIGIONS.      2/ 

treasury  of  the  temple,  and,  as  they  are  religiously 
taught,  accumulate  a  store  of  blessing  for  themselves  in 
a  future  state.  John  Short,  M,  D.,  Surgeon  General  of 
India,  Member  of  the  Anthropological  Society,  London, 
says  :  "  The  Nautch  girl  is  recognized  and  patronized 
by  the  Hindoo  religion." 

There  was  a  time  in  the  fair  eastern  land  when 
women  were  in  a  position  of  respect  similar  to  that 
among  the  ancient  Hebrews.  Husband  and  wife  were 
equal  in  all  domestic,  social  and  religious  life.  "  The 
Brahmins  have  themselves  preserved  the  record  of  wo- 
men engaging  in  philosophical  discussions,  and  discon- 
certing their  most  celebrated  doctors  by  the  depths  of 
their  objections."*  Some  of  the  Vedic  hymns  were 
composed  by  women.  By  degrees  the  condition  of  wo- 
man has  deteriorated  until  by  the  law  of  their  religion 
she  is  "  now  consigned  to  degradation  probably  without 
a  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  race."  It  is  true,  Buddha, 
in  the  sixth  century  before  Christ,  taught  that  men  and 
women  were  equal,  but  even  his  influence  has  never 
been  strong  enough  to  reform  the  Brahminical  laws 
about  women.  The  Hindoos  have  a  saying  :  "  Educa- 
tion is  good,  as  milk  is  good,  but  milk  given  to  a  snake 
becomes  venom,  and  education  given  to  a  woman  be- 
comes poison." 

A  quotation  from  the  personal  experience  of  Prof. 
T.  M.  Lindsay,  D.  D.,  so  pertinentiy  sums  up  the  Hin- 
doo creed  about  women  that  I  quote  it  "  I  remember 
asking  a  learned  Vedantist,  who  had  spent  two  days  in 
teaching  me  something  about  his  beliefs — a  man  who 
had  read  Spinoza,  Berkeley  and  Hegel — whether  he 
could  give  me  any  definite  proposition  which  all  the 
*  J.  Murray  Mitchell,  LL.  D. 


28  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

people  who  were  Hindoos  could  accept.  He  very 
readily  said,  '  That  woman  is  a  wicked  animal.  That 
the  cow  is  a  holy  animal.'  "  No  brilliant  presentation 
of  Vedic  learning,  no  poetic  picture  of  Brahmin  or 
Buddhist  philosophy  so  recently  heard  in  the  Parlia- 
ment of  Religions,  will  prevent  the  world  from  arraign- 
ing Hindooism  for  cherishing,  in  the  sacred  name  of 
religion,  the  grossest  vices,  and  basely  degrading  wo- 
man and  all  society.  "  By  their  fruit  ye  shall  know 
them." 

Religions  of  ^^  ^hc  Empire  ol  China,  under  a 

China.  government  distinguished  for  its  stabil- 

ity and  justness,  among  a  people  spoken  of  before 
Christ  as  "  those  who  dwell  apart,'  and  known  from 
the  time  of  Ptolemy  as  just,  mild,  frugal  and  industri- 
ous, comprising  one-fourth  the  human  race,  three 
religions  of  confessed  power,  not  as  rivals  but  as  coor- 
dinate and  supplemental,  have  for  many  centuries  sought 
to  solve  the  problem  of  life,  death  and  immortality. 
The  time  has  been  long  enough,  the  conditions  favor- 
able for  a  perfect  experiment.  Confucianism,  the  oldest 
of  the  three,  gave  what  is  probably  the  best  code  of 
morals  man  ever  gave  to  men.  Confucius  was  himself 
an  earnest  reformer.  Dr.  Legge,  professor  of  Chinese 
in  the  University  of  Oxford,  says  :  "  Confucius  saw  the 
terrible  wretchedness  of  his  people  and  set  himself  to 
find  a  remedy.  Yet  to  the  one  principal  cause  of  the 
misery  of  the  masses,  polygamy  and  the  low  social  con- 
dition of  woman,  he  gave  no  thought."  In  his  treatise 
on  human  relations,  in  that  of  husband  and  wife,  he  re- 
gards the  wife  as  the  servant  of  the  husband  and  enjoins 
absolute  obedience.  During  all  these  forty-three  cen- 
turies, while  Confucius  has  done  much   for  good  gov- 


WOMAN  UNDER  THE  ETHNIC  RELIGIONS.      29 

eminent  and  has  set  some  high  moral  standards  for 
men,  women  have  reaped  no  benefit  from  the  teachings 
of  the  sage. 

^    .  Lao-tsze,  the  founder  of  Taoism,  a 

Taoism.  r  ,■    ,  •       ^1  • 

rehgion  of  no  httle  power  m  Chma, 
made  no  effort  to  elevate  the  people,  and  his  religious 
system  does  not  recognize  the  existence  of  woman.  In 
the  beginning  the  work  of  Taoism  was  to  repress  the 
passions. 

"  JVoi  to  act  is  the  source  ol  all  power,"*  was  an 
ever  present  thesis.  To-day  Taoism  is  a  system  of 
magic  and  spiritism. 

Buddhism.  ^"^^  vaunted    "gentle  Buddha" 

gives  to  the  women  of  China  one  only 
hope.  Through  the  doctrine  of  transmigration  of  souls 
it  is  possible  that  through  obedience  to  her  husband 
and  his  relatives  and  the  birth  of  a  son  she  may  in 
some  future  aeon  have  the  happiness  of  being  returned 
to  this  world  a  man.  If  a  man  commits  crime  he  may 
be  returned  to  earth  a  woman.  The  one  fervent  prayer 
of  the  women  as  they  crowd  the  Buddhist  temples  is 
that  they  may  be  returned  to  earth  as  men.  •  When  the 
women  apply  to  the  priests  for  instruction  they  are  told, 
"  When  you  die  your  soul  will  pass  into  the  land  of  spirits, 
where  it  may  remain  ages  before  it  is  allowed  to  return 
to  earth  and  inhabit  the  body  of  a  man.  You  will  need 
■  money  to  pay  toll  on  the  bridges,  and  you  must  fee  the 
ferrymen,  especially  on  the  lily  boat  to  cross  the  lake  of 
blood. "t  (This  fee  is  $30.)  The  priests  claim  to  have 
opened  communication  with  the  spirit  land  and  their 
drafts  are  honored  there.     In  one  part  of  the  temple 

*  Ten  Great  Religions.    James  Freeman  Clark, 
t  China  and  the  Chinese.     Rev.  J.  L.  Nevius, 


30  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

these  drafts  are  sold,  the  priests  placing  the  seal  of  the 
temple  on  them.  Of  the  $400,000,000  annually  given 
for  idol  worship  in  China  at  least  seven- eighths  is  given 
by  women,  and  three-fourths  of  that  by  women  too  poor 
to  obtain  enough  of  even  the  coarsest  food. 

The    customs    and    principles    of 

Marnage.  .  ,  ^ 

marnage  among  any  people  are  the  ex- 
ponents of  woman's  place  in  the  social  scale.  Chinese 
women  are  bought  and  sold  in  marriage.  The  wife  is 
for  ever  subject  to  the  husband  and  his  parents ;  only 
when  she  becomes  the  mother  of  sons  does  she  receive 
the  respect  of  the  family.  Divorce  is  practically  at  the 
pleasure  of  the  husband,  or  he  may  sell  her  to  another 
man.  Undesired  at  birth,  liable  to  be  sold  while  a  child 
for  prostitution,  never  educated,  her  low  estate  naturally 
leads  to  the  crime  of  infanticide.  Little  wonder  that 
they  innocently  ask,  "Why  save  the  life  of  a  girl?" 

What  to-day  is  the  place  of  this  vast  Empire  among 
the  nations  ?  The  combined  force  of  these  three  reli- 
gions, working  for  twenty-three  centuries  upon  one- 
fourth  of  the  human  race,  has  shed  no  light  on  the  two 
great  foci,  the  family  into  which  every  human  being  is 
born  and  that  immortality  to  which  every  human  soul 
aspires,  nor  has  any  single  ray  of  light  emanated  for 
the  enlightenment  of  the  other  three-fourths  of  man- 
kind. Alas !  a  nation  cannot  rise  higher  than  its  mo- 
thers. 

Mohammed-  There  are  few  more  pathetic  scenes 

amsm.  jj^  history  than  the  casting  out  of  Ha- 

gar  and  Ishmael  from  the  polygamous  home  of  Abra- 
ham. "  Abraham  rose  up  early  in  the  morning  and 
took  bread  and  a  bottle  of  water "  and  gave  it  unto 
Hagar  and  her  child  "  and  sent  them  away."     The  pic- 


WOMAN  UNDER  THE  ETHNIC  RELIGIONS.      3 1 

ture  is  realistic  :  that  erect,  well-poised  figure  with  the 
bottle  on  her  shoulder,  that  dark  Egyptian  face  with 
chiseled  lines  of  sorrow  illuminated  now  with  righteous 
anger,  as  she  gives  one  last  haughty  look  towards 
Sarah's  tent  and  turns  towards  the  wilderness  of  Beer- 
sheba.  Very  soon  the  curtain  lifts  upon  the  desert 
scene.  The  water  is  spent.  Hagar  places  the  child 
under  the  scant  shade  of  a  shrub,  and  lifting  up  her 
voice,  weeping,  cries  out,  "  Let  me  not  see  the  death  of 
the  child."  At  this  crisis  a  voice  is  heard  from  heaven: 
"  Lift  up  the  lad.  I  will  make  of  him  a  great  nation." 
And  they  dwelt  in  the  wilderness  of  Paran,  and  his  mo- 
ther took  him  a  wife  out  of  the  land  of  the  Egyptians. 

The  years  go  by  and  centuries  are  numbered. 
We  find  the  fulfilled  promise  of  a  "  great  nation  "  in  a 
people  in  whose  veins  on  the  one  side  is  filtering  the 
blood  of  the  great  Abraham  mingling  with  the  larger 
proportion  of  the  idolatrous  Egyptian,  nomadic  in 
habit,  with  a  genius  for  conquest,  with  a  language  dis- 
tinguished for  softness  and  copiousness,  with  a  litera- 
ture of  great  antiquity  and  high  poetical  merit,  dwelling 
in  the  Peninsula  of  Arabia.  Of  these  people,  in  the 
fifth  century  of  the  Christian  era,  Mohammed,  the 
founder  of  Islam,  was  born.  A  youth  of  great  sincerity 
and  purity,  his  domestic  life  with  his  wife,  Khadija,  is 
as  beautiful  as  could  be  found  among  a  non- Christian 
people.  But  when  at  the  age  of  fifty-two  he  sets  him- 
self up  as  a  prophet,  and  becomes  the  husband  of  eleven 
wives,  we  find  him  guilty  of  the  grossest  crimes,  rob- 
bery, murder  and  butchery  which  rival  the  Emperor 
Nero. 

"  Judged  by  the  smallness  of  the  means  at  his  dis- 
posal, and  the  extent  and  permanence  of  his  work,  his 


32  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

name  is  illustrious.  By  his  will  he  abolished  a  cher- 
ished idolatry  and  bowed  to  himself  the  hearts  of  his 
countrymen,  and  gave  to  the  world  a  creed  which  has 
been  a  tremendous  force  in  the  destinies  of  the  nations. 
To  the  impulse  he  gave,  numberless  dynasties  owe  their 
existence.  Fair  cities,  stately  palaces  and  temples  have 
arisen.  At  a  thousand  shrines  the  voices  of  the  faithful 
invoke  blessings  on  him."*  "  He  saw  with  a  correct 
spiritual  vision  the  elemental  truth  of  all  religion: 
There  is  only  one  God."t  For  twelve  centuries  the 
teachings  of  Mohammed  have  borne  fruit  in  human 
lives ;  not  only  in  the  land  of  its  birth,  but  in  many 
lands. 

We  turn  the  pages  of  the  Koran 
with  eager  hope  that  we  may  find  in  the 
writings  of  this  man  some  teaching  that  shall  lead  to  the 
uplifting  of  woman.  The  most  hopeful  word  the  Koran 
has  for  woman  is  in  the  second  chapter :  "  Whoso 
doeth  good  works  and  is  a  believer,  whether  male  or 
female,  shall  be  admitted  to  Paradise."  The  practical 
exegesis  of  a  woman's  "  good  works  "  is  obedience  to 
the  husband.  Without  that  good  work  she  cannot 
enter  Paradise.  Again,  in  the  fourth  chapter,  entitled 
"  Women,"  we  read,  "  Men  shall  have  pre-eminence 
above  women,  because  of  those  advantages  wherein  God 
hath  caused  the  one  to  excel  the  other,  and  for  that 
which  they  expend  of  their  substance  in  maintaining 
their  wives.  The  honest  women  are  obedient,  careful  in 
the  absence  of  their  husbands,  for  that  God  preserveth 
them  by  committing  them,  to  the  care  and  protection  of 
the  men.  But  those  whose  perverseness  ye  shall  be 
apprehensive  of,  rebuke,  and  remove  them  into  separate 
*  Marcus  Dodd.  f  Dean  Millman. 


WOMAN  UNDER  THE  ETHNIC  RELIGIONS.      33 

apartments  and  chastise  them."  The  degraded  and 
degrading  practice  of  scourging  and  beating  wives, 
having  the  sanction  of  the  Koran,  will  be,  in  the  words 
of  Dr.  Jessup,  "  indulged  in  so  long  as  Islam  as  a  faith 
prevails." 

Note  the  polygamous  teaching  of 
the  Koran.  "  Every  Moslem  is  allowed 
four  free  wives  and  as  many  concubines  as  his  right 
hand  possess ;"  and  the  faithful  are  positively  promised 
that  in  Paradise  they  shall  have  seventy-two  houries  for 
wives,  besides  the  wives  they  have  here. 

According  to  the  Koran,  the  hus- 

Divorce.  ,  ,.  .... 

band  may  divorce  a  wife  without  warn- 
ing or  assigning  a  reason.  The  husband  has  only  to 
say,  "Thou  art  divorced."  Even  life  may  be  taken  at 
the  will  of  the  husband.  Woman  is  practically  a  chat- 
tel. A  Mohammedan  being  asked,  "  What  is  the  price 
you  pay  for  a  good  wife?"  replied,  "About  the  same  as 
for  a  mule,  twelve  or  fourteen  pounds." 

A  polite  Mohammedan  would  not 

speak  of  his  wife  without  using  the  same 
apologetic  formula  he  would  use  if  he  was  speaking  ol 
a  donkey  or  a  hog.  Indeed,  so  degrading  is  the  ortho- 
dox Mohammedan's  idea  of  womanhood  we  cannot 
mention  it  here.  The  Koran  says  nothing  about  a 
woman's  praying,  therefore  she  is  excluded  from  the 
Mosques  at  the  hours  of  prayer.  Behold  a  religion 
that  practically  excludes  one-half  the  human  race!  It 
was  not  until  Mohammed  was  fifty-eight  years  of  age, 
and  the  husband  of  many  wives,  and  had  under  his  own 
roof  experienced  what  the  Moslem  women  of  to-day 
declare — when  there  is  more  than  one  wife  "  there  is  fire 
in  the  house  " — that  he  wrote  in  the  Koran  the  "  ordi- 

Woman  In  Mlttlooi.  '2 


34  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

nance  of  veil" — that  badge  of  jealous  subjugation  which 
marks  an  era  in  the  degradation  of  women  in  all  the 
Orient.  The  regulation  costume  shrouds  the  woman 
from  the  head  to  the  ankle  in  a  cotton  or  silk  sheet  of 
black  or  white.  Around  the  head  is  tied  a  yard-long 
linen  or  cotton  veil  in  which  before  the  eyes  is  a  piece 
of  open-work,  about  the  size  of  a  finger,  which  is  the 
only  look-out  and  ventilator.  No  part,  not  even  a 
hand  or  an  eye,  can  be  seen. 

See  the  picture :  with  fearful  footsteps,  with  no 
hope  in  man,  with  little  knowledge  of  the  "All- Father," 
with  no  knowledge  of  Him  who  said,  "  Come  unto  me, 
all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,"  for  twelve 
cycling  centuries  an  unceasing  ghostly  procession  has 
marched  from  birth  to  death. 

Theckla,  a  Christian  martyr  of  the  first  century, 
standing  in  the  arena  at  Antioch,  bemoans  in  her 
prayer  the  shame  of  all  women  in  her  unclothing.  The 
clothing  of  women  in  the  veil  of  the  false  prophet  is 
a  shame  to  all  womanhood.  "  The  whole  life  of  a  Mo- 
hammedan woman  is  mirrored  in  that  pathetic  Arabic 
proverb,  '  The  threshold  weeps  for  forty  days  whenever 
a  girl  is  born.' "  The  spider's  web  which  once  saved 
the  life  of  Mohammed  has,  as  by  the  hand  of  a  Vulcan, 
been  forged  into  a  chain  which  in  this  nineteenth  cen- 
tury in  the  name  of  religion  dares  hold  woman,  and 
through  her  200,000,000  of  mankind,  in  a  singularly 
hopeless  degradation. 

Shintoism,  the  religion  of  Japan  from  time  imme- 
morial, and  Buddhism,  introduced  in  552  of  the  Chris- 
tian era,  have  wrought  these  many  centuries  in  the 
Mikado's  Empire.  While  women  in  Japan  are  not  so 
pitiably  degraded  as  in  India  or  China,  we  read  in  their 


WOMAN  UNDER  THE  ETHNIC  RELIGIONS.      35 

book  of  "  Instruction  for  Women,"  "  Woman  is  the 
creature  of  man."  "  A  woman's  husband  is  her  God." 
Concubinage,  "  divorce,  if  the  wife  is  not  obedient  to  her 
husband's  parents  "  or  is  unkind  to  a  concubine,  and  the 
selling  of  young  daughters  for  prostitution  tell  the  story. 

Among  the  Ainos,  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of 
the  island  of  Yesso,  the  women  do  not  worship  the  gods, 
even  separately.  "  The  reason  commonly  given  among 
them  is  that  the  men  fear  the  prayers  of  the  women  in 
general,  and  of  their  wives  in  particular."* 

The  sacred  books  of  Zoroaster  give  women  a 
higher  place  than  any  other  Ethnic  religion.  Women 
are  given  the  same  religious  rites  as  men ;  yet  even  here 
"  woman's  first  duty  is  obedience  to  her  husband,  and 
disobedience  is  a  crime  so  heinous  as  to  receive  punish- 
ment after  death."t 

On  the  death  of  a  chief  in  Central  Africa  hundreds 
oi  his  wives  are  buried  alive,J  a  sacrifice  for  his  conve- 
nience in  the  spirit  land. 

Miss  Mary  C.  Collins,  who  has  lived  many  years 
among  the  North  American  Indians,  says,  "  The  Indian 
is  a  religious  man,  and  it  is  his  religion  that  makes  him 
cruel." 

The  story  becomes  monotonous.  All  non-Chris- 
tian religions  degrade  women,  and  as  woman  is  so  is 
all  society.  To-day  the  all-sufficient  Christian  evi- 
dence is  the  immeasurable  contrast  between  heathen 
and  Christian  society. 

"  The  v^^orks  that  I  do  bear  w^itness  of  Me, 

THAT  THE  FATHER  HATH  SENT  Me."      John  5  :  36. 

*  Rev.  John  Bachelor,  Church  Missionary  Society, 
t  The  Vendidas.  J  Cameron. 


36  WOMAN  IN  MISSIONS. 


WOMAiV  UNDER  THE  JEWISH  AND 
CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS. 

ELIZABETH    RUNDLE  CHARLES. 
(All  rights  reserved  to  the  Author.) 

It  is  with  the  deepest  interest  and  the  keenest 
sympathy  that  I  respond  to  the  request  of  my  sisters 
across  the  sea  to  say  a  few  words  to  the  great  Con- 
vention of  Women  from  both  sides  of  the  sea  on  the 
subject  of  "  Woman  under  the  Jewish  and  Christian 
Religions." 

The  subject  naturally  divides  itself  into  the  ideal 
set  before  us  in  those  religions,  and  the  biography  and 
history  in  which  that  ideal  is  carried  out.  Our  chief 
sources  of  information  must  be  those  two  great  ancient 
literatures  (written  in  two  languages  that  have  never 
been  dead — still,  in  a  sense,  spoken  by  two  living 
nations)  which  we  bind  up  together  and  call  one  book, 
"  The  Book  :"  and  not  falsely,  because  the  unity  of  the 
divine  manifestation  is  as  evident  throughout  the  whole 
as  the  variety  in  the  evolutions  of  human  history 
through  which  this  divine  manifestation  shines. 

And  throughout  these  varied  Hteratures — this  one 
Book — nothing  seems  more  penetrating  and  lucid  than 
the  connection  between  the  relation  of  God  to  man  and 
the  relation  of  man  to  woman. 

We  will  begin  at  the  beginning,  going  back  be- 
fore the  differentiation  of  the  human  race  into  nations, 


UNDER  JEWISH  AND  CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS.     37 

before  the  origin  of  the  Jewish  people,  before  the  books 
of  the  generations  of  Abraham  or  Noah. 

Most  significant  it  is  that  this  ancient  literature  of 
the  most  exclusive  of  nations  begins  not  with  Abraham 
but  with  Adam :  with  man  as  man  ;  with  the  common 
origin  of  the  whole  race.  The  "  Gentile  " — who,  how- 
ever great  and  good  and  wise  and  devout,  was  never, 
on  pain  of  death,  to  pass  the  barrier  in  the  temple 
which  the  humblest  Jewish  woman  might  penetrate — is 
declared  to  have  been  originally  created  "in  the  image 
and  likeness  of  God ;"  taken  from  the  same  dust,  in- 
spired with  the  same  breath  of  life,  as  any  Hebrew  of 
the  Hebrews.  Before  all  the  variations,  unity  :  "  In  the 
beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth."  In 
the  beginning  "  God  created  man  in  his  own  image. 
In  the  image  of  God  created  he  him ;  male  and  female 
(man  and  woman)  created  he  them." 

In  these  magnificent,  simple  words  we  have  the 
fullest  natural  theology,  the  clearest  divine  anthropol- 
ogy. God  and  nature,  God  and  man.  The  divine 
personality  of  the  Creator  infinitely  and  eternally  dis- 
tinct from  the  creature ;  no  mere  vague  interfusion  or 
counteraction  of  spirit  and  matter.  Not  between 
spirit  and  matter  is  the  contrast,  but  between  the  su- 
preme personality  and  things.  And,  very  significandy, 
the  first  creature  mentioned  is  light;  the  light  which 
in  her  latest  word  science  can  as  little  define  as  she  can 
define  spirit ;  not  long  since  written  of  as  a  substance, 
now  scarcely  even  as  a  force ;  an  emanation,  a  vibra- 
tion, an  undulation,  a  mode  of  motion,  but  an  emana- 
tion from  what,  an  undulation  of  what,  none  can  say ; 
something  which  we  cannot  in  itself  see  or  perceive,  yet 
without  which  we  can  perceive  nothing. 


38  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

"  Thuslhe  story  of  the  material  creation,  the  universe 
of  things,  begins  with  mystery,  as  well  as  the  story  of 
the  spiritual  universe,  the  world  of  persons.  Light 
dawns  on  us  as  indefinable,  as  undeniable,  as  life,  as 
the  living  soul,  the  personality  created  in  the  image  of 
God. 

Next,  as  to  the  creation  of  man,  this  ancient  record 
states  his  composite  nature :  dust  and  life ;  the  body 
and  the  living  soul.  And  then,  entangling  itself  in  no 
psychological  theories,  leaving  the  fact  of  the  interfus- 
ing of  dust  and  life  and  soul  as  it  leaves  the  fact  of 
light,  it  advances  in  the  differentiation  to  the  his- 
tory :  "  Male  and  female  (man  and  woman)  created  he 
them." 

With  the  existence  of  man,  the  creation  of  a  human 
personality  in  the  image  of  God,  a  new  significance 
comes  into  nature.  It  becomes  a  "garden"  in  relation 
with  man,  to  "  be  dressed  and  kept."  It  has  food  to 
nourish  his  earthly  life  ;  things  "  good  for  food."  It 
has  beauty  to  nourish  his  spirit,  "  pleasant  to  the  eyes." 
And  now  also  moral  life,  right  and  wrong  enter  the 
world :  will  and  choice ;  obedience,  only  conceivable 
when  disobedience  is  possible;  "thou  shalt,  and  thou 
shalt  not,"  the  "  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and 
evil."  Beauty,  goodness,  truth,  meaning,  purpose, 
come  into  everything. 

The  beasts  and  the  birds  are  brought  by  God  to 
man  (in  the  delightful  grand  old  childlike  story)  "  to 
see  what  he  will  call  them,"  and  "whatever  he  calls 
every  living  creature  that  is  the  name  thereof."  Com- 
prehension, comparison,  sympathy  are  in  this  new 
creature  in  the  likeness  of  God,  for  all  the  rest  of  the 
creatures.      And   yet,   amongst    them  all,   he  stands 


UNDER  JEWISH  AND   CHRISTIAN    RELIGIONS.    39 

alone :  none  of  them,  try  as  the  kindest  and  the  clever- 
est of  them  might,  could  comprehend  him.  With  all 
their  beauty  and  grace,  the  music  of  their  songs,  the 
skill  of  their  architecture,  their  delight  in  each  other, 
their  serviceableness  to  him,  there  was  none  who  could 
respond  to  man.  He  could  name  them,  but  they 
could  not  name  him.  "  For  Adam  was  no  help  meet 
found."  Then,  out  of  man,  God  "  builded  "  woman, 
and  brought  her  unto  the  man  ;  and  human  history 
began. 

The  help  meet  is  found.  The  chord  of  the  true 
relation  between  man  and  woman,  man  and  wife,  the 
fountain  of  all  other  human  relations,  rings  out  clear 
and  full  from  the  beginning.  "  Help :"  the  word  is  a 
high  word,  continually  used  for  the  help  of  God  ;  no 
mere  echo  or  repetition,  or  feeble  supplement :  "  help 
over  against  him."  She  stands  before  him  face  to  face, 
side  by  side. 

"  Not  undeveloped  man,  but  diverse  ; 
Not  like  to  like,  but  like  in  difference. 
The  woman's  cause  is  man's.     They  rise  and  sink 
Together,  dwarfed  or  Godlike,  bond  or  free." 

True  and  full  the  perfect  chord  rings  out  from  the 
beginning. 

The  woman  is  brought  to  the  man,  and  then, 
too  soon,  the  grand  choral  harmony  breaks  into  dis- 
cord. 

The  creature  doubts  the  Creator.  The  fallen  wo- 
man, from  the  helper,  becomes  the  tempter.  The  fallen 
man  becomes  the  accuser,  excusing  himself  and  re- 
proaching the  Giver  with  his  gift :  "  The  woman  thou 
gavest  to  be  with  me  gave  me  of  the  tree."  The 
Paradise  is  exchanged  for  the  wilderness,  the  joyful 


40  WOMAN  IN  MISSIONS. 

fellow-working-   in  the  garden  becomes  the  toiling  in 
the  wilderness,  the  battling  with  thistles  and  thorns. 

What  is  allegory  and  what  prose  in  the  grand  old 
story  may  be  debated  for  ever.  The  fact  remains,  with 
all  the  history  and  philosophy,  theology  and  anthro- 
pology folded  up  in  it:  man  and  woman  rise  and  fall 
together.  The  fact  remains  that  out  of  his  toil  comes 
the  restoration  of  man ;  out  of  her  suffering  comes  the 
redemption  of  the  race. 

In  the  wilderness  begins  the  Family.  By  the 
woman,  ages  after,  the  promised  man,  bruising  the 
enemy's  head,  is  "  gotten  from  the  Lord ;"  the  perfect 
ideal  of  humanity  is  at  last  realized. 

In  the  infinite  tenderness  of  the  divine  story,  in 
the  infinite  resources  of  divine  redemption,  it  is  a 
woman's  voice  that  breaks  the  echo  of  the  long  and 
bitter  cry  of  revolt  and  ruin.  Mary's  "  Be  it  unto  me 
according  to  thy  word  "  resolves  at  last  the  discord  of 
the  serpent's  "  Hath  God  said  ?" 

And  the  perfect  man,  the  "  second  man,"  the  Lord 
from  heaven,  amidst  so  many  other  redemptions  and 
renewals  reasserts  the  original  law  of  the  creation. 
"  Have  ye  not  read  that  He  which  made  them  at  the 
beginning  made  them  male  and  female  ?"  man  and 
woman ;  renewing  also  the  sacred  original  law  of 
marriage  in  the  words  of  welcome  of  the  first  man  to 
the  first  woman,  the  first  husband  to  the  first  wife : 
"  For  this  cause  shall  a  man  leave  his  father  and  his 
mother  and  cleave  unto  his  wife,  and  they  twain  shall 
be  one  flesh." 

"  And  so  these  twain,  upon  the  skirts  of  time, 
Sit  side  by  side,  full-summed  in  all  their  powers, 
Dispensing  harvest,  sowing  the  To-be, 


UNDER  JEWISH   AND   CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS.   4I 

Self  reverent  each  and  reverencing  each, 

Distinct  in  individualities, 

But  like  each  other  even  as  those  who  love. 

Then  comes  the  statelier  Eden  back  to  men ; 

Then  reign  the  world's  great  bridals  chaste  and  calm ; 

Then  springs  the  crowning  race  of  human  kind."* 

The  early  harmony  is  found  again  (chastened  and 
enriched  by  the  discords  that  have  intervened)  through 
the  life  of  perfect  service  and  the  death  of  supreme 
self-sacrifice,  which  in  glorifying  all  service  and  in- 
spiring all  sacrifice  have  glorified  and  inspired  as  never 
before  her  whose  normal  life  is  essentially  service  and 
sacrifice ;  and,  through  womanhood,  all  humanity. 

But  between  Eve  and  Mary  comes  the  great  He- 
brew literature,  the  story  of  the  family  of  Abraham 
and  the  nation  of  Israel ;  and  rarely  indeed  is  the  lost 
chord  of  the  first  ideal  struck  again. 

The  women  mentioned  in  the  patriarchal  story 
are  certainly  far  from  ideal  or  exemplary.  The  great 
original  law  of  marriage,  fidelity  as  absolute  for  man 
as  for  woman,  is  lost  in  a  tangle  of  temporary  or 
polygamous  connections,  with  the  inevitable  result  of 
life  lowered  in  all  its  relations ;  strifes,  wrongs,  jealous- 
ies, resentments.  The  equal  help,  the  ennobling  com- 
panionship, the  one  sacred  uniting  love  vanish  in  the 
mere  desire  for  the  perpetuation  in  one  way  or  other 
of  the  family,  the  stock.  And  with  the  degradation  of 
marriage,  sacred  source  and  bond  of  all  other  relations, 
all  other  relations  are  tangled  and  ruined. 

When  we  come  to  the  nation  there  are  indeed 
some  names  of  women  that  shine  out  nobly.  In  all 
histories,  unfortunately,  it  is  not  usually  the  best  wo- 
men whose  names  have  the  widest  echo.  Andromache's 
*  Tennyson's  Princess. 


42  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

tender  story  does  not  resound  through  the  world  like 
that  of  Helen  of  Troy. 

But  in  the  Jewish  history  there  are  three  names 
that  ring  out  with  trumpet  tones  :  Miriam,  Deborah  and 
Esther ;  and  there  are  two  others,  Hannah  and  Ruth, 
that  penetrate  the  din  of  strife  with  sweet  low  music  of 
love  and  peace. 

Miriam,  Deborah,  Esther ;  great  national  heroines, 
two  of  them  also  poets  or  prophetesses.  The  first 
linked  with  the  birthday  of  the  nation  after  the  tri- 
umphant crossing  of  the  Red  Sea ;  the  second  with  the 
fierce  conflicts  of  the  conquest ;  the  third  with  the  op- 
pressions and  deliverances  of  the  Captivity. 

The  first  glimpse  we  have  of  Minam  is  as  the 
young  sister,  faithfully  watching  the  baby  brother  in 
the  bulrush  cradle  by  the  river,  with  ready  wit  and 
fine  courage  coming  forward  to  the  princess  to  fetch 
her  mother  to  nurse  the  child. 

Through  the  youth  of  Moses  at  the  court,  and 
the  forty  years  in  the  wilderness,  and  the  long  struggle 
with  Pharaoh  for  the  liberation  of  the  people,  we  hear 
nothing  more  of  her.  But  when  the  Egyptian  host 
is  overthrown,  and  the  sea  is  passed,  then  on  the 
Arabian  shore  Miriam  once  more  appears ;  the  long, 
faithful  waiting  ends  in  the  triumphant  battle  song  as 
she  sounds  the  timbrel  and  leads  the  choral  dance,  and 
strikes  the  exultant  antiphon,  "  Sing  ye  to  the  Lord, 
for  he  hath  triumphed  gloriously ;  the  horse  and  his 
rider  hath  he  thrown  into  the  sea." 

.Not  that  her  faith  was  always  above  desponding 
or  murmuring  in  the  weary  repetitions  of  the  trials  of 
the  long  wilderness  journey ;  but  the  echo  of  those 
murmurs  is  drowned  in  the  national  memory  by  the 


UNDER  JEWISH   AND    CHRISTIAN    RELIGIONS.   43 

faithful  watching  of  the  young  sister  and  the  triumph- 
ant song  of  the  aged  prophetess.  To  the  last  days  of 
the  existence  of  her  people  in  their  own  land  an 
annual  festival  was  held  in  honor  of  Miriam,  sister  of 
Moses  and  prophetess  of  Israel. 

Deborah  stands  before  us  more  detached  and  more 
original.  Not  the  courage  of  the  men  of  her  race,  but 
the  failure  of  their  courage,  seems  to  have  enkindled 
the  patriotism  which  made  her  a  prophetess,  a  leader 
and  a  judge. 

The  wife  of  Lapidoth,  to  her,  under  the  palm  tree, 
the  people  came  as  their  judge,  acknowledging  in  her 
the  judicial  office,  in  general  opinion  least  adapted  to 
a  woman.  No  hereditary  princess  or  queen,  but  one 
of  the  judges — the  office  in  all  history  least  official — by 
divine  right  of  capability  and  by  the  response  of  the 
heart  and  judgment  of  the  people. 

Like  Joan  of  Arc,  Deborah's  patriotism  had  its 
roots  in  pity.  .  The  highways,  as  we  learn  from  her 
song,  were  desolate  for  fear  of  the  invader ;  the  cowed 
and  harassed  people  crept  through  hidden  by-paths ; 
the  villages  were  deserted ;  by  the  village  wells,  at  the 
drawing  of  water,  the  maidens  were  hunted  down  by 
the  marauders,  and  "  not  a  shield  or  spear  was  found  " 
to  defend  them  "  among  the  forty  thousand  in  Israel," 
until  Deborah  arose,  "  a  mother  in  Israel,"  strong  in  her 
motherly  pity  to  protect  the  weak,  strong  in  her  faith 
in  the  God  of  her  fathers,  which  for  a  time  the  men  of 
her  race  seemed  to  have  lost;  having  chosen  instead 
"  new  gods,"  the  gods  of  the  conquerers,  from  whom 
no  inspiration  and  no  organization  could  come. 

Love  was  her  inspiration,  the  pity  of  her  motherly 
heart;  love  to  the  Eternal  and  Almighty,  infinite  be- 


44  WOMAN    IN   MISSIONS. 

yond  all  thought,  closer  to  his  people  than  any  of  the 
captains  or  judges  he  might  send.  Her  faith  and 
indignant  pity  aroused  the  enfeebled  wills  and  enkindled 
the  smouldering  faith  of  her  people.  The  "  princes 
offered  themselves  willingly."  Once  more  the  scattered 
families,  the  divided  tribes,  rose  to  feel  themselves  a 
nation.  She  found  a  leader  in  Barak  ;  but  evidendy,  to 
the  end,  the  inspiration  and  the  organization  of  nation 
and  army  were  from  her.  Without  her  Barak  could 
not  plan  a  campaign  ;  would  not  go  forth  to  the  battle. 
She  led  them  up  to  the  heights,  she  sent  them  down  at 
the  right  moment  to  the  plains  to  encounter  the  nine 
hundred  chariots  of  Sisera.  The  foe  fled,  were  cut 
down  by  the  pursuers,  swept  away  by  the  flooded 
Kishon,  till  none  was  left  save  Sisera  fleeing  desperate- 
ly to  the  Kenite  tent  to  be  slain  there  by  the  hand  of 
another  woman. 

Then  arose  from  Deborah's  Hps  the  song  of  vic- 
tory ;  not  a  mere  response,  as  with  Miriam,  but  a  grand 
choral  patriotic  battle-song,  sung  in  responses  from 
men  to  maidens,  from  tribe  to  tribe ;  a  hymn  of  praise 
for  the  families  returning  in  peace  to  their  homes,  for 
the  nation  returning  to  the  eternal  God  of  their  fathers. 
The  last  strophe  of  the  song  reveals  the  source  of 
Deborah's  strength,  beneath  the  motherly  pity,  beneath 
the  fiery  patriotism  :  "  They  that  love  Him  shall  be  as 
the  sun  as  he  goeth  forth  in  his  strength."  Loving 
him,  the  Eternal,  the  God  of  her  fathers,  that  brave 
woman  had  shone  forth  on  her  people  "  as  the  sun  in 
his  strength."  The  clouds  and  storms  were  scattered. 
And  the  land  had  rest  forty  years. 

Then  comes  an  era  of  national  splendor.      The 
judges  under  the  oaks  or  the  palm-tree  are  succeeded 


UNDER  JEWISH  AND  CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS.   45 

by  kings  reigning  in  great  cities,  with  palaces  as  mag- 
nificent as  those  of  the  kings  of  the  nations  around. 
Instead  of  the  curtained  tabernacle  on  the  hillside  arose 
the  temple,  with  its  cloisters  and  courts  crowning  the 
heights  of  Jerusalem. 

And  then  division  of  the  nation,  degradation  of  the 
worship,  faithlessness  in  the  family  life,  faithlessness  of 
the  nation  pledged  to  its  God ;  the  temple  destroyed, 
the  city  ruined,  the  whole  nation  scattered  hither  and 
thither ;  exiled  and  captive,  yet  again  and  again  by  the 
power  inherent  in  the  faith,  by  the  buoyancy  innate  in 
the  race,  rising  to  high  places  among  their  oppressors. 
Recovering,  and  beaten  back,  successful,  and  hated,  as 
so  often  in  that  wonderful  Jewish  story,  until  another 
great  national  peril  called  forth  another  great  national 
heroine :  Esther,  the  queen,  risking  death  for  her  people 
in  the  palace  of  her  husband,  King  Ahasuerus,  the 
Xerxes  of  the  Greek  war.* 

From  her  lips  no  prophetic  hymn,  no  victorious 
battle-song  comes  down  to  us,  but  imperishable,  simple 
words  of  self-sacrifice  far  greater  than  these  :  "  If  I  per- 
ish, I  perish."  Not  in  the  excitement  of  the  battie-field, 
yet  brave  as  Leonidas  at  Marathon,  in  the  home,  in 
the  palace  chamber  she  encountered  the  deadly  peril 
alone,  and  won  the  day,  and  saved  her  people  from 
destruction.  And  for  thousands  of  years,  through  the 
Captivity  and  Return,  and  the  long  Dispersion  of  the 
ages  since,  her  people  have  kept  the  festival  of  the 
deliverance  she  had  wrought. 

Lofty  and  varied  are  the  gifts  recognized  and  the 
services  rendered  by  these  three :    prophecy,   poetry, 
faculty  to  rule,  to  judge  and  to  organize,  courage  to 
*  Dean  Stanley,  "Jewish  Church." 


46  WOMAN  IN   MISSIONS.. 

sustain  a  nation  that  had  lost  its  courage,  faith  to  revive 
the  faith  in  which  the  nation  had  failed,  heroism  to 
brave  a  despot  alone,  unaided. 

What  then  is  the  moral  ideal  upheld  in  these  three  ? 
An  exalted  faith  in  God,  self-sacrifice  for  Israel — 
for  the  nation ;  pity,  courage,  constancy.  Beyond  the 
nation,  and  the  boundless  devotion  due  to  it,  there  were 
enemies  to  whom  no  pity  was  due  :  horse  and  rider 
were  overwhelmed  in  the  sea,  or  swept  away  by  the 
river  Kishon,  the  fugitive  was  murdered  sleeping  in 
the  tent  by  the  hostess  who  had  welcomed  him,  the 
Persian  foes  were  massacred  ruthlessly  with  the  per- 
mission of  Ahasuerus  (as  they  would  doubtless  have 
ruthlessly  massacred  the  Jews),  a  whole  family  was 
hanged  on  the  gallows  sixty  feet  high  prepared  by 
their  father  for  the  queen's  uncle. 

For  Israel  there  was  devotion  without  bounds ; 
for  those  outside  Israel,  or  hostile  to  Israel,  no  touch 
of  mercy.  The  way  is  far  between  this  and  Joan  of 
Arc  pausing  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy  and  dismounting 
to  rest  the  head  of  a  dying  foe  on  her  knee. 

With  Ruth  and  Hannah  we  come  to  a  different 
strain.  These  pathetic  stories  give  us  glimpses  into  the 
depths  of  the  common  human  life  flowing  beneath  the 
conflicts  of  races  and  rehgions. 

The  story  of  Ruth  the  Moabitess  blossoms  like  a 
fragrant  flower  amid  the  stony  desert  of  strife.  It  is 
good  to  think  of  her  name  in  the  genealogy  of  Jesus, 
Son  of  David,  Son  of  Mary,  Son  of  man.  In  all  history 
there  is  not  a  tenderer  story  than  this  of  the  young 
widowed  woman  cleaving  to  her  husband's  widowed 
mother,  sharing  her  poverty  and  bereavement,  embra- 
cing her  faith,  and  going  back  to  sustain  the  desolate 


UNDER  JEWISH  AND  CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS.   47 

heart  in  the  old  home  among  a  race  she  had  never 
known.  Ruth  is  not  ranked  among  the  sweet  singers 
of  Israel,  yet  no  sweeter  music  has  come  down  to  us 
from  the  past  than  her  tender  words,  "  Entreat  me  not 
to  leave  thee,  nor  to  return  from  following  after  thee. 
Whither  thou  goest  I  will  go,  and  where  thou  lodgest  I 
will  lodge.  Thy  people  shall  be  my  people,  and  thy 
God  my  God." 

And  again,  Hannah,  poet  and  prophetess  through 
a  mxjther's  love  and  joy,  sending  her  son's  birthday 
song  through  the  ages  till  its  notes  blend  as  a  tender 
prelude  with  the  Magnificat  of  Mary,  the  blessed  mother 
of  Jesus.  And  so  the  Jewish  story  passes  on  through 
storm  and  sunshine,  day  and  night,  to  its  fulfilment. 

Throughout  the  centuries  the  ancient  ritual  had 
borne  witness  to  the  holiness  of  God  and  to  the  separa- 
ting, desecrating  nature  of  sin.  From  age  to  age  the 
Jewish  prophets  had  proclaimed  the  infinity  and  omni- 
potence of  God  in  comparison  with  man — "  all  the  in- 
habitants of  the  earth  as  grasshoppers  before  him  ;" 
and  also,  at  the  same  time,  the  opposite  truth,  of  the 
close  union  of  God  with  man,  the  marriage  of  the  Eter- 
nal to  the  chosen  nation,  which  made  idolatiy,  with 
them,  as  the  infidelity  of  a  wife.  And  between  those 
opposite  poles  of  truth,  gradually,  clearer  and  clearer, 
had  arisen  the  vision  of  the  Elect  One — the  Servant,  the 
Son  :  Son  of  God,  Son  of  man ;  King  and  Sufferer ;  as 
a  Judge  on  his  throne,  as  a  Lamb  dumb  before  his 
shearers;  redeeming,  atoning,  reigning— until  at  last 
this  Mediator  appears,  this  Hnk  between  the  Eternal 
and  Infinite  and  the  children  of  a  day ;  this  atonement 
between  the  Holy  and  the  sinful:  Immanuel;  "  God 
with  us."     And  in  words  which  must  have  had  the 


48  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

deepest  significance  to  the  Jewish  people,  to  those  who 
week  by  week  listened  to  the  appeals  of  the  prophets, 
the  forerunner  of  the  Christ,  the  "  voice  crying  in  the 
wilderness,"  proclaims  him  to  be  not  only  Son  of  God 
and  Lamb  of  God,  but  "  He  that  hath  the  Bride." 

The  morning  of  joy  had  dawned  at  last.  We  feel 
it  in  every  breath  of  the  life-giving  air,  in  every  song  of 
the  universal  hopes,  in  the  glow  of  its  love,  in  the  stir 
of  its  new  movement,  in  the  expansion  of  its  horizons. 
Night,  the  ■  divider,  has  fled.  The  barriers  are  melting 
away  between  man  and  God,  between  nation  and  na- 
tion, between  man  and  woman. 

And  in  nothing  is  the  newness  of  life  of  this  new 
day  more  manifest  than  in  the  women  who  are  revealed 
in  its  morning  light. 

The  long  wail  of  revolt  is  broken  by  Mary's  "  Be- 
hold the  handmaid  of  the  Lord!"  The  great  matin 
hymn,  the  Magnificat,  is  sung  by  a  woman's  voice. 

Glance  for  a  moment  at  the  beautiful  familiar  sto- 
ries in  the  gospels.  In  the  first  group  are  the  two  aged 
women,  Elisabeth  in  the  home  and  Anna  in  the  temple ; 
the  sunset  of  human  life  and  of  the  ancient  world  melt- 
ing into  the  dawn  of  the  new.  But  Mary,  the  virgin 
mother,  is  altogether  of  the  new  day^ — no  echo,  but  a 
new  voice ;  mother  of  Him  who  is  the  life  of  all  the  Uv- 
ing,  crowned  with  the  blessings  of  all  the  beatitudes : 
"  blessed  among  women ;"  blessed  as  "  she  who  be- 
lieved ;"  blessed  as  she  who  "  heard  the  word  of  God 
and  kept  it;"  blessed  in  her  faithfulness  unto  death. 
She  leads  the  glad  company  we  know  so  well :  Martha, 
who  ministered  to  the  Master's  earthly  needs;  Mary, 
who  sat  at  his  feet  and  understood  his  words,  and 
brought  the  precious  ointment  for  his  burial ;  Mary  of 


UNDER  JEWISH  AND  CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS.   49 

Magdala,  last  at  the  cross,  first  at  the  sepulchre,  first 
messenger  of  the  resurrection ;  the  penitents  whose 
names,  tenderly  veiled  firom  history,  we  shall  first  hear 
fi-om  the  book  p{  life ;  the  cosdy  gifts  of  the  alabaster 
boxes,  both  reproached  by  man,  one  for  the  stain  of 
too  much  sin,  one  for  the  waste  of  too  much  love,  both 
accepted  by  the  Master.  What  a  range,  what  heights 
and  depths,  what  varieties  of  condition  and  character 
the  brief  story  embraces ! 

What  is  it,  then,  that  makes  this  new  life  so  new  in 
the  world  ? 

Is  it  not,  primarily,  that  their  Christianity  is  Christ? 
It  is  devotion,  not  to  a  cause  merely,  or  a  party,  or  a 
nation,  or  a  race,  that  is  its  inspiration,  but  to  the  living 
Person,  Son  of  God  and  Son  of  man,  perfect  Ideal  of 
man,  perfect  manifestation  of  God,  Redeemer,  Master 
Friend. 

Women  are  often  reproached  with  regarding  per- 
sons rather  than  causes.  In  the  lower  sense  this  may 
sometimes  be  true.  The  lowest  gossip  as  well  as  high- 
est history  gathers  around  persons.  But  in  the  higher 
sense  we  may  trust,  we  may  be  sure,  it  will  be  always 
true.  History  is,  in  one  of  its  noblest  aspects,  the  "  es- 
sence of  biography,"  because  "  personality  is  the  core 
of  reality ;"  because  without  personality  love  is  impos- 
sible, and  "  living  love  is  that  good  which  is  the  begin- 
ning and  end  of  the  whole  universe;"  because  "the 
true  reality  is  not  matter,  and  is  still  less  idea,  but  is  the 
living,  personal  Spirit  of  God  and  the  world  of  personal 
spirits  which  he  has  created.  They  only  are  the  place 
in  which  good  and  good  things  exist."* 

Woman's  work  must  always  be  in  great  measure 
*  Lotz,  "  Microcosmos." 

WomaQ  in  ^s^lona.         /i 


50  WOMAN   IN    MISSIONS. 

to  recall  from  abstractions  to  persons,  from  "causes" 
or  "societies"  to  human  beings;  to  the  men,  women, 
children,  suffering,  sinful,  redeemed,  restored,  victori- 
ous, of  whom  societies  consist  and  whose  "cause  "is 
the  cause  of  God. 

It  is  by  the  revelation  of  love  as  the  deepest  word. 
the  central  truth  of  the  universe,  through  the  glorifica- 
tion of  service  by  Him  who  was  among  us  as  he  that 
serveth,  that  woman  has  been  and  is  being  redeemed, 
liberated,  understood,  ennobled.  The  ideal  of  woman- 
hood— not  of  poor,  weak,  crippled  womanhood,  but  of 
womanhood  as  God  made  it ;  that  is,  a  life  that  has  no 
meaning  except  in  relation  to  God  and  to  others — has 
become  the  ideal  of  humanity,  a  life  whose  essence  is 
love  sacrificing  and  serving ;  renouncing  when  renun- 
ciation is  the  way  to  serve  ;  ruling  when  ruling  is  the 
way  to  serve;  rebuking  when  rebuking  is  the  way  to 
serve ;  silentiy  suffering  when  patience  is  the  way  to 
serve ;  fearlessly  fighting  when  resisting  is  the  way  to 
serve ;  dying  when  death  is  the  way  to  serve. 

And  after  this  group,  gathered  round  the  child 
Jesus,  the  Healer,  the  Redeemer,  the  dying  Saviour, 
the  risen  Lord,  what  comes  next  ? 

Is  it  a  step  downward  from  the  last  chapter  of  the 
Gospels  to  the  first  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  from 
the  last  visible  steps  of  Jesus  Chiist  on  earth  to  the 
first  visible  steps  of  his  church  in  the  world  ?  Pic- 
torially  it  may  certainly  seem  a  step  downward  into 
prose  and  the  commonplace ;  from  the  mother  and 
the  Magdalene  at  the  cross,  from  the  "  Mary "  and 
"  Rabboni "  at  the  sepulchre,  it  may  look  like  a  de- 
scent into  very  ordinary  prose  to  Dorcas,  sewing  her 
coats  and  garments  for  the  poor  widows.    But  we  know 


UNDER  JEWISH  AND  CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS.    $1 

it  is  really  a  step  onward — from  receiving  to  giving, 
from  being  healed  to  healing,  from  the  morning  songs 
of  rapturous  welcome  to  the  toiling  and  battling  for  a 
lost  and  suffering  world  through  the  burden  and  heat 
of  the  day ;  the  glow  of  the  morning,  and  the  tones  of 
the  "  Mary  "  and  the  "  Rabboni,"  the  "  Unto  Me  "  and 
"  I  am  with  you  all  the  days,"  meanwhile,  indeed,  ma- 
king melody  in  the  heart  for  ever,  transfiguring  the 
soberest  prose  into  poetry :  Dorcas,  Lois  and  Eunice, 
Priscilla,  Lydia,  being  still  in  heart  at  the  feet  of  Jesus, 
listening  to  his  words,  adoring  at  his  cross,  at  his  empty 
sepulchre  hearing  his  voice,  for  not  once  only,  but  once 
and  for  ever,  the  Christianity  of  the  women  of  Chris- 
tendom is  Christ  Through  that  one  perfect  Ideal  of 
humanity,  through  that  one  perpetual  living  Presence, 
they  are  linked  with  all  mankind.  Not  by  the  far-off 
commission  of  a  founder,  but  by  the  living  voice  of 
their  Lord  they  are  sent  forth  day  by  day,  hour  by 
hour,  with  the  command, "  Go  to  my  brothers,"  and  the 
benediction,  "  In  that  ye  did  it  unto  the  least  of  these 
my  brothers  ye  did  it  unto  Me." 

The  stories  of  the  women  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
des  are  indeed  typical :  Dorcas  leading  the  great  army 
of  succor  for  the  poor  and  needy  who,  through  all  ad- 
vances in  civilization  and  all  forms  of  government,  seem 
to  be  "  always  with  us ;"  Priscilla,  the  wife,  the  efficient 
"help  over  against"  Aquila  in  the  tent-making,  and  in 
the  instructing  more  perfecdy  the  eloquent  Alexan- 
drian ;  Lois  and  Eunice  with  the  home  training — most 
inalienable  of  all  "  the  rights  of  women,"  most  sacred 
of  all  their  dudes — the  faith  of  the  mother  breathed 
into  the  son,  the  Holy  Scriptures  wrought  into  the 
child's  mind  and  heart  with  the  tenderest  memories  at 


52  WOMAN  IN   MISSIONS. 

a  mother's  knee ;  Lydia,  "  seller  of  purple,"  taking  her 
honorable  place  in  the  world's  work,  generous  hostess 
of  apostles,  fearless  succorer  of  martyrs  ;  Phoebe,  Persis, 
succoring  many,  bestowing  much  labor;  the  "elect 
lady  "  with  her  children  "  walking  in  the  truth,"  ad- 
dressed with  equal  courtesy  by  the  aged  apostle:  the 
daughters  of  Philip,  prophetesses,  carrying  on  into  the 
new  era  the  inspiring  music  of  Miriam  and  Deborah, 
the  victorious  batde-songs  of  the  wider  warfare  and 
the  nobler  conquests  of  the  cross.  All  gifts  of  mind 
and  heart,  all  uses,  administrative  or  educational,  all 
vocations  are  there,  having  their  centre  and  roots  in 
the  family  and  the  home,  yet  expanding  beyond  it, 
working  through  it,  to  the  family  of  God,  the  lost 
sheep  throughout  the  world.  The  home  always  the 
mightiest  instrument  and  the  truest  model;  with  its 
divine  classifications,  not  of  "  like  with  like,"  but  of 
"  like  in  difference,"  its  inter-dependent  inequalities  of 
age  and  sex  and  relationship ;  and,  nevertheless,  the 
world  being  broken  and  imperfect  as  it  is  even  in  its 
homes,  the  imperfect  homes  ever  supplemented,  the 
corrupt  homes  remedied,  by  "  conventions,"  societies, 
communities,  sisterhoods,  organizations  of  all  kinds. 

The  germ  of  all  true  woman's  work  is  indeed  in 
these  histories  of  the  women  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tles, the  earliest  church  history.  What  are  they  but 
the  leaders  in  that  great  army  of  liberation,  that  great 
company  of  healers  ever  needed  on  all  the  battle- 
fields ? 

The  subsequent  centuries  work  it  out ;  through 
martyrdoms,  in  hospitals,  through  chivalry  and  monas- 
tic orders,  throughout  the  middle  ages,  sometimes 
marred    by   Manichean   misunderstandings   of   divme 


UNDER  JEWISH  AND  CHRISTIAN  RELIGIONS.    53 

natural  laws  but  never  losing  the  great  Christian  ideal 
of  service  and  sacrifice,  until,  at  the  era  of  the  Refor- 
mation, once  more  the  home  takes  its  true  place  as  the 
highest  type  of  human  life  for  those  within ;  for  those 
without,  the  fullest,  sweetest  fountain  of  life  and  succor 
to  the  world  around.  Throughout  Christendom,  on 
both  sides  of  all  ecclesiastical  barriers,  from  St.  Vincent 
de  Paul  and  the  sisters  of  charity  to  Elizabeth  Fry  in 
the  prisons,  the  work  of  mercy  flows  ceaselessly  on, 
fuller  and  stronger. 

Until  now,  at  this  day  of  fullest  hope  and  widest 
openings,  not  a  field  of  fruitful  work  is  closed  to  us,  for 
redressing  wrongs  or  relieving  misery,  for  redeeming 
the  worst,  and  for  lifting  up  the  best  to  their  highest 
development  and  fullest  beauty.  Still  indeed  we  have 
to  remember  that  the  world,  in  its  quietest  shelters  as 
in  its  widest  spaces,  is  always  a  battle-field  between 
right  and  wrong,  the  better  and  the  best:  that  we 
never  drift  lazily  into  victory,  that  in  the  very  homes 
which  are  so  sacred  the  batde  against  "  family  egoism  " 
is  needed  ;  that  unless  the  home  is  a  fountain  of  living 
waters  for  the  world  around,  it  soon  becomes  a  stag- 
nant pool,  breeding  malaria  for  its  inmates. 

All  fields  are  indeed  open  to  us :  home  missions, 
foreign  missions,  city  slums,  village  stagnations.  The 
rights  are  won  if  love  inspires  us  to  use  them  nobly,  if 
we  never  forget  how  much  of  woman's  work  consists 
in  raising  "  politics  and  economics  "  to  their  true  place 
as  "  branches  of  ethics,"  and  so  making  them  living  ;  in 
recalling  the  world  from  idolatry  of  things  to  love  of 
the  persons  for  whom  things  exist.  For  we  are  indeed 
far  from  being  liberated  from  the  perils  of  idolatry. 
We  are  always  making  and   building  ideals,  theories, 


54  WOMAN  IN  MISSIONS. 

formulas,  laws,  and  then  letting  them  become  endued 
with  a  monstrous  automatic,  vampire  life  with  which 
they  clutch  and  crush  our  own.  We  heap  up  money  in 
millions  till  the  fertilizing  rills  which  should  irrigate  the 
land  are  chilled  into  icebergs  which  freeze  and  crush 
our  own  souls;  we  make  poor-laws  to  help  the  poor 
and  let  them  be  entangled  into  bonds  to  degrade  and 
fetter  the  poor ;  we  make  hospitals  to  relieve  the 
suffering  and  let  them  stiffen  into  mere  medical 
schools  ;  we  build  churches  to  lift  hearts  up  to  heaven 
and  let  them  become  mere  roofs  to  shut  the  heavens 
out.  Nothing  is  too  low  to  be  worshipped  if  it  is 
gilded  by  self-love ;  nothing  is  too  sacred  to  become 
an  idol  if  we  turn  from  the  living  Presence  of  him  who 
lives  and  speaks  through  it,  to  the  things,  the  society, 
the  dogma  itself — to  any  "  It  "  from  him. 

All  fields  are  indeed  now  open  to  us,  of  science 
and  art,  cf  philanthropic  and  religious  work.  We  may 
speak  as  freely  as  Deborah  and  Miriam,  where  and 
when  we  will,  in  any  cause  we  embrace  :  women  may 
sing  to  touch  the  hearts  of  thousands ;  they  may  write 
books  to  move,  to  uplift  and  strengthen  the  hearts  of 
millions,  with  the  advantage  that  people  need  not  read 
the  books  unless  they  like,  and  that  the  audience  of  a 
book  is  spoken  to  one  by  one,  in  hours  of  loneliness  or 
need,  pain  or  sorrow,  when  the  heart  is  most  ready  to 
be  moved. 

One  woman's  voice  may  bring  hope  into  prisons 
where  all  who  entered  seemed  to  leave  hope  behind ; 
the  hand  of  another  may  give  a  death-blow  to  slavery  : 
another  may  be  inspired  by  such  thoughtful  compassion 
for  the  sick  and  wounded  as  to  inaugurate  a  new  era 
in    the  warfare  with  disease  and    the  unhealthy  con- 


UNDER   JEWISH   AND   CHRISTIAN   RELIGIONS.    55 

editions  leading  to  it,  and  to  raise  nursing  from  a  casual 
resource  of  any  one  who  wants  employment  into  a 
fine  art  and  skilled  craft  of  healing ;  another  may  be 
possessed  by  such  a  passion  of  succor  and  salvation 
for  the  lowest  and  most  wretched  as  to  give  to  thou- 
sands of  fellow-workers  a  new  meaning  and  inspiration 
to  the  old  divine  words,  "  The  Son  of  man  is  come 
to  save  that  which  was  lost :"  another  may  arrest  a 
nation  on  the  fatal  downward  path  of  legalizing  vice ; 
another  may  take  from  a  nation's  hand  the  posion  cup 
of  intemperance ;  and  all  this  not  by  neglecting  simple 
home  duties  but  in  fulfilling  them,  not  apart  from  the 
husbands  and  the  brothers  and  the  sons,  but  inspiring 
them,  and  with  their  aid :  the  mother's  heart  stirred 
by  the  loss  of  her  own  son  to  redress  the  wrongs  of  the 
slave  mothers  ;  the  noble  woman  who  dared  to  brave 
reproach  and  scorn  to  rescue,  her  nation  from  the 
shame  of  recognizing  that  there  must  be  a  class  of  out- 
cast women,  sustained  throughout  by  the  chivalrous 
support  of  a  husband  as  gende  as  any  woman.* 

If  indeed  the  courage  of  the  men  of  a  race  fail  in 
righting  any  wrong  or  battling  with  any  iniquity,  if 
among  the  forty  thousand  of  Israel  not  a  shield  or 
spear  is  found  to  defend  the  right,  doubtless  to  the  end 
some  Deborah  will  arise,  in  love  to  God  and  the  op- 
pressed, to  fight  the  battle  as  a  mother  in  Israel.  But 
we  intend  to  fight  together,  man  and  woman,  husband 
and  wife,  brother  and  sister,  not  in  mean  competition, 
still  less  in  insane  antagonism,  but  in  glorious  co- 
operation, side  by  side ;  woman  for  ever  the  help-meet 
"  over  against "  man. 

We  have  a  glorious  company  to  follow.  Century 
*Canon  Butler  and  his  wife,  Josephine  Butler. 


56  WOMAN  IN   MISSIONS. 

after  century  they  come,  the  women  of  Christianity, 
from  every  section  of  Christendom,  through  every  age 
of  the  church,  fulfiUing  the  life  of  Christ,  filling  up  the 
sufferings  of  Christ;  healing,  saving,  teaching,  leading 
onward  and  upward ;  refusing  to  recognize  that  any 
need  be  outcasts,  to  despair  of  rescuing  from  any 
depths,  or  of  lifting  to  any  heights ;  translating  the 
prose  of  the  world  through  divine  and  human  love  into 
poetry ;  transfiguring  the  wildernesses  of  the  world 
by  patience  and  much  labor  into  paradises.  All  the 
buildings  look  ugly  while  the  scaffolding  is  still  up. 
All  the  battles  look  deadly  prose  while  they  are  being 
fought,  largely  by  the  rank  and  file ;  fought  through 
failures  and  mistakes  and  irritating  wounds,  through 
blood  and  fire  and  vapor  of  smoke.  The  palms  and 
the  garlands  come  afterwards,  and  not  always  visibly, 
or  to  those  who  have  fought  the  hardest.  For,  extend 
the  glorious  muster-roll  as  we  will,  we  always  end  with 
"  time  would  fail  me  to  tell "  and  "  the  great  multitude 
no  man  number." 

Christianity  is  the  ennobling  and  fulfilling  of  wo- 
manhood because  it  is  the  manifestation  of  supreme 
love  and  the  glorification  of  service ;  because  the  ideal 
of  redeemed  humanity  is  revealed  in  "the  Bride  of  the 
Lamb  "  sharing  for  ever  the  fruitful  service  and  victor- 
ous  rule  of  the  self-sacrificing  Love  which  is  on  the 
throne  of  the  universe. 


ENGLISH   FEMALE   MISSIONARIES.  5/ 


HISTORICAL  PAPERS  ON  WOMAN^S 
MISSIONS. 

ENGLISH  FEMALE  MISSIONARIES. 

BY  CHARLOTTE  MARY  YONGE. 

In  being  asked  to  describe  the  work  of  English 
women  in  foreign  missions  I  have  received  a  great 
honor.  I  am.  conscious  of  inabiUty  to  do  justice  to  so 
wide,  and  often  so  touching  a  subject,  but  I  can  only 
beg  for  indulgence  and  hope  that  my  incompetence 
may  be  excused. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  first  female  missionaries 
on  record  were  Englishwomen.  I  mean  those  who  went 
for  the  sake  of  the  mission;  for  I  do  not  reckon  Nonna, 
who  was  sold  as  a  slave  in  Iberia  and  taught  her  own- 
ers the  gospel,  nor  even  St.  Bridget,  who  was  a  native 
of  Ireland,  where  she  aided  gready  in  the  mission  of 
St.  Patrick. 

But  it  was  the  English  St.  Boniface  who,  while 
endeavoring  to  convert  the  Germans,  first  felt  the  need 
of  the  cooperation  of  good  women  who  might  instruct 
their  sisters  in  those  homely  arts  and  gentie  habits 
without  which  there  was  littie  hope  of  Christianity 
prevailing.  He  therefore  wrote  to  the  Abbess  of  Wim- 
borne,  in  Dorsetshire,  to  send  him  some  of  her  nuns, 
of  whom  Walburga,  the  sister  of  one  of  his  priests,  was 
to  be  the  chief,  and  another  whom  he  specially  asked 


58  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

for  was  his  own  near  kinswoman,  Lioba,  or  love.  Wal- 
burga  left  a  deep  impression,  and  both  are  revered  as 
saints,  but  we  know  little  of  their  individual  work,  and 
full  a  thousand  years  had  passed  before  the  church 
began  again  to  lengthen  her  cords  and  strengthen  her 
stakes. 

Spanish  and  French  women  had  been  at  work  as 
nuns  in  South  America  and  Canada,  but  it  was  not 
till,  as  we  may  truly  say,  the  spirit  of  love  for  the 
heathen  descended  upon  William  Carey  that  much 
systematic  attempt  was  made  to  send  out  missions. 
"  If  the  Lord  should  make  windows  in  heaven,  could 
this  be?"  expressed  the  first  feelings  of  an  aged  minister 
on  hearing  his  bold  proposal  to  endeavor  to  bring  in 
the  heathen.  It  was  just  a  century  ago  that  this  devoted 
man  set  forth  from  England  with  his  family  and  was 
refused  a  resting-place  by  the  East  India  Company, 
who  were  scrupulous  to  a  hurtful  degree  as  to  their 
engagement  not  to  interfere  with  the  religion  of  the 
natives.  He  could  only  make  his  headquarters  at  the 
Danish  factory  of  Serampore.  Poor  Mrs.  Carey,  an 
uneducated  woman,  without  enthusiasm,  who  had  only 
followed  her  husband  from  necessity,  lost  her  senses 
in  the  new  and  trying  life,  and  never  was  anything  but 
a  burden  and  a  drag ;  but  Mrs.  Marshman,  the  wife  of 
his  colleague,  was  a  true  helper,  both  by  precept  and 
the  example  of  a  true  Christian  life.  Indeed  it  was  in 
that  family  that  Havelock  acquired  his  deeper  serious 
impressions. 

Missionaries  had  begun  from  that  time  to  be  sent 
forth.  The  great  and  ancient  Society  for  the  Propaga- 
tion of  the  Gospel  at  first  held  its  chief  duty  to  be  to 
provide  for  the  needs  of  the  English  colonists,  which 


ENGLISH    FEMALE    MISSIONARIES.  59 

did  indeed  rapidly  outrun  its  powers,  so  that  perhaps 
it  was  impossible  for  the  work  among  the  heathen  not 
to  come  to  the  hands  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society, 
and  of  non-conformist  societies. 

The  honor  that  is  due  to  these  long-suffering  wo- 
men of  all  denominations  is  unspeakable.  There  have 
been  heroines  among  them,  such  as  the  two  wives  who, 
left  for  a  time  by  their  husbands  on  one  of  the  Pacific 
islands,  heard  that  a  cannibal  feast  was  about  to  take 
place,  obtained  a  boat,  and  rushed  upon  the  savages, 
heedless  of  the  danger  of  provoking  them,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  saving  one  victim  though  they  were  too  late 
for  the  other.  Mrs.  Gordon,  after  patient  years  of 
work  with  her  husband  in  the  Isle  of  Erromanga,  found 
the  minds  of  the  people  turned  against  them,  perhaps 
because  they  had  threatened  the  country  with  divine 
wrath  if  the  wicked  and  cruel  customs  were  persisted 
in,  so  that  when  a  fatal  attack  of  measles  set  in  it  was 
supposed  to  be  their  work.  A  party  of  the  heathens 
came  up  to  their  huts.  Some  detained  Mrs.  Gordon 
among  the  trees  while  her  husband  was  cut  down  with 
tomahawks,  and,  happily  before  she  knew  his  fate, 
another  killed  her  with  two  blows  on  neck  and  back. 
Bishop  Patteson  read  the  burial  service  over  their 
graves  some  weeks  later.  They  were  of  the  Scottish 
Free  Church  and  born  in  Nova  Scotia,  and  their  mar- 
tyrdom was  on  May  20,  1861. 

But  these  great  events  were  only  incidents  in  the 
history  of  what  many  and  many  a  missionary's  wife 
has  had  to  endure  day  by  day.  Fresh  from  the  com- 
forts and  cleanliness  of  an  English  home  she  has  had 
to  go  out  with  her  husband  among  wild  races,  with 
nothing  of  civilized  life   save  the  small    supply  they 


6o  WOMAN    IN    MISSIONS. 

could  carry  with  them  in  boxes.  Generally  on  arriving 
they  have  had  no  shelter  but  a  filthy  hut  full  of  curious 
savages,  until  a  rough  abode  could  be  put  up  with 
their  own  hands,  and  there  in  some  cases  the  least  dis- 
play of  the  most  ordinary  articles  is  a  signal  for  rob- 
bery by  the  natives,  or  significant  hints,  if  not  demands, 
from  their  chiefs.  The  wife  longs  to  teach  and  raise 
the  women  around  her,  but  she  has  to  attend  to  her 
husband's  comfort,  wash,  cook,  and  do  all  for  him  with 
far  fewer  conveniences  than  any  cottager  in  a  civihzed 
country,  feeling  all  the  time  that  home  comfort  and 
ease  of  mind  are  essential  to  his  work  and  health,  and 
thus  absolutely  to  his  efficiency.  Yet  she  does  teach 
and  help  with  all  her  might,  showing  by  her  example 
what  it  is  to  be  a  pure,  self-devoted,  faithful  Christian 
woman,  and  beginning  to  awaken  the  aspirations  of 
those  around  her.  Often  the  birth  of  children  adds  to 
her  sufferings  and  difficulties,  and  unnumbered  are 
those  innocent  victims  to  climate  and  want  of  proper 
food  who  lie  in  unnamed  graves  in  Polynesia  and 
Africa,  having  truly,  though  unknowingly,  died  for  the 
spread  of  the  Gospel. 

Second  only  in  number  to  these  children  are  their 
mothers.  There  is  no  roll  on  earth  to  reckon  up  the 
young  wives  and  mothers  who  sank  under  their  toils ; 
but  we  cannot  take  up  a  mission  journal  without  find- 
ing that  either  the  leader  or  one  of  his  companions  had 
to  mourn  for  his  young  wife.  She  had  gone  out,  devo- 
ting herself  and  full  of  hope,  to  find  the  toil  beyond  her 
strength  and  the  climate  fatal,  and  to  die,  happy  if  she 
did  not  leave  a  babe  to  grieve  its  father's  heart  till  it 
was  laid  beside  her.  Noble  women  these  were,  with 
hearts  given  to  fulfil  their  Lord's  command,  and  truly 


ENGLISH   FEMALE   MISSIONARIES.  6l 

as  much  martyrs  as  though  they  had  perished  by  sword 
or  steel. 

Other  tongues  and  other  pens,  however,  speak  of 
the  work  of  these  persons,  of  various  Christian  com- 
munions. The  English  Church  herself  has  a  far  larger 
and  wider  scope  of  mission  work  than  is  known  or 
guessed  at  except  by  experts.  She  has  her  emissaries 
in  no  less  than  eighty  or  eighty-one  dioceses,  begin- 
ning from  1720,  and  gradually  extending  the  work 
from  the  British  colonies  to  the  hitherto  untrodden 
fields.  The  primary  work  of  the  Society  for  the  Prop- 
agation of  the  Gospel  was  among  the  colonists,  though 
it  began  to  gather  in  the  natives  and  to  extend  its  bor- 
ders, while  the  Church  Missionary  Society  began  with 
heathen  lands,  each  establishing  clergy  and  schools 
wherever  their  emissaries  went,  the  clergymen's  wives 
doing  their  share  according  to  their  powers  and  oppor- 
tunities, and  ladies  joining  them  to  assist  in  school- 
keeping. 

When  George  Augustus  Selwyn  set  forth  to  New 
Zealand  he  carried  with  him  a  very  effective  assistant 
in  his  wife.  Many  of  the  Maoris  were  by  this  time 
nominal  Christians,  and  her  work  was  to  train  the 
women  and  girls  so  as  to  fit  them  to  be  wives  to  the 
native  catechists  and  clergy  and  to  raise  them  above 
being  the  bearers  of  all  burdens — so  that  a  chief  was 
seen  riding  across  a  river  on  t-he  shoulders  of  his  wife 
to  save  his  new  patent-leather  boots !  Sir  William 
Martyn,  the  judge,  was  the  head  for  many  years  of 
the  theological  college  for  native  clergy,  and  his  wife 
was  a  most  useful  assistant.  Her  letters,  as  well  as 
Mrs.  Selwyn 's,  give  most  amusing  descriptions  of  the 
life  of  teaching.     Hers  are  published  as  a  narrative  by 


62  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

the  Society  for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge,  and 
range  from  very  early  days  to  those  of  comparative  civ- 
ilization. In  what  was  called  Heki's  rebellion,  caused 
by  a  quarrel  about  surveying  for  a  road,  the  wives  of 
the  clergy  had  to  flee  to  Auckland  and  the  adjacent 
parts,  and  one,  looking  from  the  window  as  a  wild 
troop  of  Maoris  went  by,  exclaimed,  "  There 's  my  best 
Sunday  bonnet"— on  the  head  of  one  of  the  rebels. 

But  there  never  was  personal  danger  at  this  time, 
though  in  the  rising  of  the  Hau  Haus,  which  was  a 
revolt  against  Christianity,  two  clergymen  and  their 
wives  were  captured,  and  one  priest  was  put  to  death 
to  fulfil  the  demands  of  some  terrible  old  superstition. 
The  others  were  rescued  by  the  personal  interference 
of  the  daundess  bishop. 

We  pass  on  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  South 
Africa,  not  without  a  tribute  to  Mrs.  Gray,  the  wife  of 
the  bishop  of  Cape  Town.  One  who  knew  her  well 
says  she  was  "  the  truest  helpmeet  that  ever  lived ;  one 
of  those  rare  people  who  will  point  out  the  up-hill  way, 
if  it  is  the  right  one,  and  encourage  her  husband  to 
take  it  instead  of  the  easier  path  round.  Her  great  love 
never  made  her  shrink  from  suffering  for  him,  and  she 
would  have  encouraged  him  to  go  to  the  stake."  No 
doubt  she  gave  her  life  for  the  work,  for  her  illness  was 
brought  on  by  accompanying  him  on  his  visitations  and 
acting  as  his  secretary.  She  was  the  architect  of  most 
of  the  churches  in  the  colony. 

Miss  Katharine  Barter  went  out  under  them,  ho- 
ping to  do  native  work,  and  succeeded  in  isolated  cases. 
Her  "  Home-life  in  Africa"  and  "Adventures  of  a  Plain 
Woman  "  give  a  curious  picture  of  the  Kaffirs  and  her 
doings  among  them. 


ENGLISH    FEMALE   MISSIONARIES.  63 

The  huge  diocese  was  divided,  and  in  1853  Bishop 
Colenso  was  chosen  to  the  see  of  Natal  in  ignorance  of 
his  heterodox  opinions.  That  he,  as  well  as  his  wife 
and  daughter,  had  a  deep  affection  for  the  Kaffirs  there 
is,  however,  no  doubt.  He  had  a  school  for  the  young 
chiefs  in  his  own  house,  and  such  was  the  devotion  of 
Mrs.  Colenso  to  the  cause  that  she  actually  washed  the 
feet  of  these  lads  every  night,  finding  it  impossible  to 
trust  any  one  else  to  do  it ;  and  Kaffir  human  nature  is 
hardly  tolerable  to  European  noses  in  close  quarters 
without  such  precautions. 

When  the  diocese  of  Natal  was  formed,  a  young 
widow  named  Henrietta  Woodrow  offered  herself  for 
the  work  at  Durban.  There  her  beginning  was  with  a 
little  orphan  home  for  English  children;  but  while  learn- 
ing the  Kaffir  language  she  so  managed  to  speak  to 
those  who  came  to  her  that  her  interpreter  said  they 
went  away  "  with  tears  in  their  heart."  After  a  time 
she  married  a  Scotsman,  Robert  Robertson,  who  had 
been  ordained  by  the  bishop  of  Cape  Town,  and  they 
settled  on  a  grant  from  Government  upon  the  Umlazi 
River,  where  they  gathered  Kaffirs  about  them — or- 
phans, children  given  by  their  parents  and  older  con- 
verts— and  did  their  best  to  Christianize  and  civilize 
them,  though  in  the  case  of  girls  the  custom  of  buying 
wives  with  cows  was  a  terrible  hindrance,  for  no  man 
could  call  his  wife  his  own  till  her  price  in  cattle  had 
been  paid,  and  even  then  he  was  sorely  tempted  to  ob- 
tain more  wives  if  his  means  increased. 

Later  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Robertson  moved  farther  into 
the  country,  forming  a  considerable  setdement,  called 
Kwamagwaza,  or  the  preaching-place,  where  they  had 
a  church,  several  Christian  married  couples,  numbers 


64  WOMAN  IN  MISSIONS. 

of  children  trusted  to  them  for  education,  and  numerous 
refugees  from  the  free  country  who  had  been  "smelt 
out "  as  guilty  of  witchcraft,  and  would  have  been  ruth- 
lessly massacred  at  home.  Indeed  Mr.  Robertson  had 
to  extort  permission  to  keep  them  from  Cetewayo,  or 
they  would  have  been  murdered  and  his  settlement 
broken  up.  Mrs.  Robertson,  though  in  very  feeble 
health,  was  the  life  and  soul  of  the  mission,  teaching, 
influencing,  winning  souls,  making  the  wild  women  and 
girls  gentle,  helpful  Christians.  Her  exceeding  value 
was  only  thoroughly  known  when  in  1863  she  was 
taken  away,  being  crushed  by  the  upsetting  of  a  wagon 
on  her  way  to  Durban,  protecting  to  the  last  breath  a 
tiny  Kaffir  boy  who  was  in  the  wagon  with  her  and 
was  unhurt. 

Nearly  at  the  same  time  that  her  venture  began, 
Charles  Frederick  Mackenzie,  the  youngest  son  of  one 
of  Sir  Walter  Scott's  friends,  was  chosen  as  archdeacon 
of  Natal,  and  took  out  with  him  his  elder  sister  Anne. 
She  was  soon  most  deeply  interested  in  the  mission, 
and  indeed  the  eldest,  motherly  sister,  Mrs.  Dundas. 
had  written  to  him  before  he  went  out  that  tlie  tone  of 
the  whole  family  would  be  raised  by  his  undertaking 
it.  Alice,  the  younger  sister,  soon  joined  the  two,  and 
they  found  a  home  on  the  Umlahli  River,  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  numerous  Kaffir  kraals  of  beehive-shaped 
huts  as  well  as  near  an  English  camp  and  a  good  many 
scattered  English  colonists.  Their  first  abode  was  a 
mud-built  erection,  with  perpendicular  sides  and  a 
veranda,  with  two  rooms,  one  the  chapel,  the  other  the 
living  room ;  and  their  bedrooms  were  beehive  huts. 
The  archdeacon's  Sunday  was  spent  in  riding  about  to 
perform  five  different  services,  and  in  the  week  he  and 


ENGLISH   FEMALE    MISSIONARIES.  65 

his  sisters  kept  school,  one  for  the  colonists'  children, 
who  used  to  arrive  on  ox-back,  and  one  for  the  Kaffirs, 
old  and  young;  dealing  with  them  on  the  pattern  ot 
the  Robertsons,  who  often  paid  the  Seaforth  home  a 
visit  bringing  with  them  the  whole  family  of  converts 
and  adopted  children,  whom  they  durst  not  leave. 
Anne  Mackenzie  had  the  frailest  possible  health,  and  at 
hrst  lived  chiefly  to  teach  the  whites;  but  Alice,  "  the 
black  sister,"  was  devoted  to  the  Kaffirs,  and  when  her 
brother  and  sister  went  to  England  on  ecclesiastical 
business  she  remained  to  help  in  Bishop  Colenso's 
black  college. 

While  in  England  Archdeacon  Mackenzie  was 
chosen  missionary  bishop,  to  head  the  mission  sent  out 
to  the  Zambesi  by  the  universities  in  the  zeal  excited 
by  the  appeals  of  Dr.  Livingstone.  The  two  sisters 
were  ready  to  cast  in  their  lot  with  him,  and  when  he 
went  forward  to  prepare  the  way  Anne  followed,  to- 
gether with  Mrs.  Burrup,  the  young  wife  of  one  of  his 
clergy.  Alas  !  when,  almost  dead  with  fever,  they  went 
up  the  sluggish  river  in  a  boat  it  was  only  to  find  that 
they  actually  had  overshot  the  grave  where  Bishop 
Mackenzie  was  lying  at  the  confluence  of  the  Ruo,  and 
that  Mr.  Burrup  had  only  survived  him  a  short  time. 
Anne  returned  to  England,  broken  down  with  fever 
and  constandy  suffering,  yet  she  became  in  her  quiet 
chamber  an  absolute  mother  of  missions,  devoting  her- 
self above  all  to  the  foundation  of  a  Zulu  bishopric  in 
memory  of  her  brother  and  to  carry  on  his  earlier  work. 
This  was  her  primary  object  in  pubUshing  a  little  mag- 
azine called  the  "  Net  Cast  into  Many  Waters,"  but  it 
was  the  organ  by  which  she  made  known,  and  obtained 
means  for  supplying,  the  thousand  and  one  needments 

Woman  in  Uissiona.  S 


^  WOMAN   IN    MISSIONS. 

of  missionaries,  from  church  bells  or  altar-cloths  doM-n 
to  pictures,  wedding-rings  and  thimbles,  giving  patterns 
for  the  varieties  of  clothes  for  converts,  and  collect- 
ing them  when  made.  The  charm  of  her  sweetness 
and  repressed  enthusiasm  had  a  great  power  of 
keeping  up  interest  in  missions  until  1877,  when  at 
her  death  she  left  the  work  in  a  far  more  advanced 
and  organized  condition  than  when  she  began  the 
work. 

The  Ladies'  Association,  in  connection  with  the 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  had  been 
formed  with  perhaps  a  wider  scope  than  the  "  Net"  had 
covered.  It  reaches  into  all  the  dioceses  in  connection 
with  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  and 
the  Church  Missionary  Society  attends  to  the  needs  of 
the  missions  connected  with  them.  Almost  every  place 
in  England  has  a  working  party,  generally  in  Lent,  for 
sending  out  clothes  to  the  converts,  and  a  great  many 
persons  and  schools  or  villages  collectively  subscribe 
for  the  maintenance  of  a  native  scholar  at  one  or  other 
of  the  orphanages  or  schools.  Requests  for  special 
needs  are  circulated  in  the  magazines  and  often  an- 
swered. Funds  for  the  maintenance  of  native  teachers 
are  also  supplied  by  this  agency  and  are  much  needed. 

The  cause  of  sisterhoods  has  triumphed,  and  it 
began  to  be  felt  that  a  more  certain  supply  of  female 
assistants  could  through  them  be  obtained  than  through 
missionaries'  families  or  volunteers.  Some  of  the  sis- 
ters from  Lydia  Sellon's  primary  home  at  Plymouth 
were  the  first  to  go  out  with  Bishop  Staley  to  Honolu- 
lu, but  Hawaii  being  already  Christian  they  hardly 
come  under  the  head  of  missionaries,  though  they 
found  it  important  to  teach  litde  girls  to  nurse  dolls  in 


ENGLISH   FEMALE   MISSIONARIES.  6-] 

order  to  persuade  them  when  they  grew  to  woman's 
estate  that  it  was  more  desirable  to  fondle  a  baby  than 
a  puppy  or  a  little  pig.  Two  little  maidens  whom  they 
sent  to  England  were  the  great  delight  and  amusement 
of  Dr.  Pusey  in  his  old  age. 

Dean  Douglas,  of  Cape  Town,  with  the  sanction  of 
his  bishop,  decided  to  endeavor  to  form  a  sisterhood  at 
the  Home  of  St.  George  for  the  many  needs  of  Cape 
Town,  a  terrible  place,  with  all  the  evils  of  a  harbor  and 
garrison  town  aggravated  by  those  of  an  extraordina- 
rily mixed  population — Kaffir,  Hottentot,  Dutch,  Eng- 
lish and  Malay.  Orphans  left  by  unsuccessful  colonists 
were  numerous,  and  had  only  been  provided  for  by  be- 
ing sent  to  prison,  till  a  good  lady,  Mary  Arthur,  took 
up  their  cause,  and  actually  maintained  those  whom  she 
adopted  by  going  out  to  give  lessons  as  a  music  mis- 
tress. 

Dean  Douglas  was  appointed  to  the  bishopric  of 
Bombay  and  had  left  Africa  before  the  arrival  of  the 
sisters ;  but  they  worked  under  Bishop  Gray,  at  the 
many  kinds  of  missions  needed,  until  his  death,  when  it 
was  found  difficult  to  keep  up  the  number  of  sisters, 
and  it  was  therefore  affiHated  to  the  All  Saints  sister- 
hood in  London,  by  whom  the  supply  of  workers  has 
been  filled  up  for  the  multifarious  labors  of  Cape  Town : 
schools  for  the  gentr}'-,  and  for  the  poorer  English,  also 
for  Kaffirs,  and  orphanages,  hospital  work,  and  homes 
for  penitents.  There  is  a  sisterhood  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion, numbering  fifteen,  at  Grahamstown. 

Africa  also  finds  work  for  sisters  of  charity  from 
St.  Raphael's,  Bristol,  and  for  deaconesses  in  KafTra- 
ria.  Miss  Lawrence  and,  later.  Miss  Allen  have  kept  a 
missionary  school  and  managed  a  hospital  in  Madagas- 


68  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

car  with  much  effect  and  success,  though  with  infinite 
difficulty  and  suffering  in  that  fatal  climate. 

India  needed  all  this,  and  more  than  this,  variety  of 
work,  for  its  many  kinds  of  needs,  including  not  merely 
its  thousands  of  natives  and  their  English  masters  but 
Eurasians — namely,  persons  of  British  parentage  but 
acclimatized  for  one  or  more  generations  to  India. 
Schools  had  been  set  on  foot,  with  vigorous,  hard-work- 
ing Englishwomen  attending  to  them,  ever  since  the 
days  of  Bishop  Daniel  Wilson,  and  they  bred  up  many 
orphan  girls  who  generally  became  the  wives  of  Hindoo 
catechists  or  schoolmasters,  or  of  the  boys  bred  in  simi- 
lar ^institutions  ;  but  the  girls  of  outside  families  were 
almost  unattainable  if  of  high  caste,  as  they  could  not 
go  to  school,  and  were  generally  married  as  absolute 
infants  to  some  boy  of  the  same  age  or  a  litde  older. 
If  he  died,  though  the  horrible  custom  of  burning  the 
widow  was  put  a  stop  to  by  authority,  the  poor  woman 
remained  for  all  her  life  in  a  wretched  state,  not  allowed 
to  eat  with  the  family,  wear  ornaments,  or  enjoy  any  of 
the  few  pleasures  of  the  Zenana,  but  treated  like  a  slave 
guilty  of  having  brought  ill-luck.  The  Zenana,  un- 
approachable to  the  missionary,  was  the  stronghold 
of  heathenism,  for  the  women  were  wrapped  in  super- 
stition, and  the  men  and  boys,  who  could  learn  better 
things,  shrank  from  encountering  the  storm  of  re- 
proaches and  wailings  which  any  infraction  of  caste 
brought  on  them  from  their  mothers  and  wives. 

Sisterhoods  did  much  :  the  Clewer  and  All  Saints 
sisterhoods  at  Calcutta,  the  East  Grinstead  at  Colombo 
in  Ceylon,  where  the  women  are  chiefly  Buddhist  and 
less  secluded.  The  Wantage  sisterhood  of  St.  Mary 
have  a  large  contingent  at  Paona,  in  the  Bombay  dio- 


ENGLISH   FEMALE   MISSIONARIES.  69 

cese,  occupied  in  education,  and  other  forms  of  work, 
hospital  and  mission.  They  have  come  in  contact  with 
some  of  the  class,  now  growing  up  in  India,  of  Hindoo 
ladies,  highly  educated,  and  quite  on  a  level  in  intellect 
and  attainments  with  their  European  sisters,  so  as  to  be 
able  to  do  their  part  for  evil  or  for  good.  One  young 
widow  with  her  little  daughter  came  to  the  Home  at 
Wantage  to  study,  and  returned  to  India  to  become  a 
lecturer. 

No  means  have  been  more  effective  than  the 
Zenana  mission  for  carrying  light  and  cultivation  into 
the  homes  and  families.  When  it  was  commenced  so 
litde  was  known  on  the  subject  that  I  remember  a 
meeting  in  a  provincial  town  where  the  clergyman 
who  distributed  the  leaflets  was  asked  what  tribe  was 
called  Zenanas.  Something  like  this  inquirer  was  a 
lady  who  insisted  on  sending  illuminated  texts  to  Miss 
Mackensie  for  the  Zulus  in  New  Zealand ! 

The  ladies  of  the  Zenana  mission,  of  whom  the 
author,  A.  L.  O.  E.,  has  been  one,  do  not  necessarily 
begin  with  Christianity,  but  do  what  they  can  to  open 
the  minds  and  enliven  the  m.elancholy  lives  of  the  high 
caste  women,  whom  they  generally  find  secluded  in  the 
most  dreary  part  of  the  abode,  with  no  outlook  except 
into  a  narrow,  naked  yard,  and  nothing  to  do,  for 
needlework  is  beneath  their  dignity ;  but  the  English 
ladies  have  prevailed  gradually  to  introduce  employ- 
ments, such  as  fancy  work,  to  teach  reading,  and  to 
bring  in  some  idea  of  religion.  Most  of  the  ladies  of 
the  Zenana  mission  have  medical  training,  which  is  an 
excellent  introduction  and  has  been  of  infinite  value, 
though  their  treatment  has  to  contend  with  the  oppo- 
sition of  the  whole  household  and  all  the  female  rela- 


70  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

tions,  whose  ideas  run  counter  to  all  science  and  too 
often  undo  all  that  has  been  attempted  by  the  Mem 
Sahib. 

Things  are,  however,  rapidly  advancing.  The  men 
generally  receive  enough  European  education  to  make 
them  not  unwilling  that  their  wives  should  have  some 
culture,  and  in  the  five  years  during  which  the  Earl  of 
Dufferin  (now  Marquis  of  Dufferin  and  Ava)  was  Gov- 
ernor General  his  wife  did  wonders  in  the  cause  of  fe- 
male education,  not  only  establishing  schools  but  win- 
ning the  girls  to  attend  them.  These  are  not  as  a  rule 
definitely  Christian,  but  they  do  much  to  prepare  the 
way. 

The  Church  Missionary  Society  has  a  great  number 
of  emissaries,  both  the  wives  of  missionaries  and  ladies 
who  have  devoted  themselves,  deaconesses,  and  native 
women,  mostly  brought  up  in  orphanages  where  many 
babies  were  received  after  the  Indian  famine.  The 
population  at  Tinnevelly,  the  home  of  the  great  Dane, 
Frederick  Schwartz,  is  chiefly  Chrisdan,  and  possesses 
two  bishops. 

Rangoon,  in  the  lately  acquired  Burmah,  has  sundry 
efficient  workers  both  among  the  intelligent  Burmese 
and  the  Karen  mountaineers.  Corea  is  a  new  field  of 
work,  and  the  bishop  has  obtained  the  help  of  five 
sisters  from  St.  Peter's,  Kilburn. 

China  has  been  chiefly  the  province  of  the  Church 
Missionary  Society.  Roman-catholic  sisters,  chiefly  of 
French  and  Irish  birth,  have,  however,  done  much  good 
there,  and  have  several  houses.  They  have  undergone 
special  dangers,  and  even  martyrdoms,  from  the  fanati- 
cal Chinese,  litde  restrained  by  the  mandarins.  Girl 
babies,  being  thought  quite  valueless,  are  often  "  put 


ENGLISH  FEMALE    MISSIONARIES.  J I 

away,"  that  is,  exposed  or  buried  alive  by  their  cruel 
parents  as  soon  as  born,  and  the  good  sisters  have  en- 
deavored to  prevent  this  by  offering  a  price  for  any 
that  are  brought  to  them,  and  if  they  survive  they 
are  bred  up  as  Christians.  The  Chinese  populace, 
hating  the  "  foreign  devils  "  and  enduring  their  intru- 
sion with  bitter  dislike,  have  periodical  frenzies  of 
supposing  that  the  children  are  slaughtered  and  used 
in  some  horrid  ritual.  The  mob  rises  on  the  defence- 
less ladies  and  several  of  them  have  died  in  these  cruel 
hands.  Indeed  only  recently  several  of  them  had  to 
escape  amid  a  storm  of  mud  and  stones  to  find  shelter 
in  the  American  Consulate. 

There  is  an  English  bishop  at  Hong  Kong  and 
for  the  North  West  provinces,  where  the  mission  ladies 
have  been  able  to  effect  much.  When  once  Chinese 
indifference  is  overcome,  and  they  cease  to  say,  "  What 
is  your  sublime  religion  ?"  they  become  excellent  con- 
verts, and  it  is  said  that  one  Chinese  proselyte  is  worth 
a  dozen  coolies.  The  ladies  find  one  great  difficulty, 
in  preventing  the  compression  of  the  feet  among  the 
women,  and  I  have  read  a  piteous  account  of  the  suf- 
fering of  a  little  girl  whose  Christian  father  died  and 
whose  heathen  relations  chose  to  bind  her  feet  when 
she  was  past  infancy,  producing  such  fever  and  exhaus- 
tion as  at  last  to  cause  her  death. 

The  brilliant  intelligence  of  the  Japanese  has  in 
many  cases  accepted  the  faith  so  heartily  as  to  recall 
the  memory  of  the  martyrs  of  their  church  in  the  six- 
teenth century. 

I  have  not  here  attempted  to  tell  the  work  of  the 
Scottish  Presbyterians,  the  London  mission,  or  that 
of  other  denominations,  simply  that  of  the  Church  of 


72  WOMAN  IN    MISSIONS. 

England  through  her  church  women  ;  and  I  pass  over 
many  isolated  efforts  of  theirs,  such  as  the  brave  and 
noble  life  of  Mrs.  MacDougal,  wife  of  the  bishop  of 
Labuan,  who  Hved  for  many  years  among  the  Dyaks  ot 
Borneo,  and  of  Miss  Whately,  the  daughter  of  the 
noted  archbishop  of  Dublin,  who  devoted  herself  to 
the  education  of  Egyptian  girls,  and  trained  many  out 
of  the  crass  ignorance  of  Mohammedan  women, 
though  she  durst  not  attempt  to  convert  them. 

The  accounts  I  have  been  able  to  collect  show  the 
Church  of  England  at  work  in  3o  dioceses,  where  she 
employs  179  sisters  and  deaconesses,  263  English  lay 
women  and  726  native  women  trained  as  teachers.  It 
is  a  record  showing  at  least  that  something  has  been 
attempted,  though  far  more  might  be  done.  Al- 
together 1,623  British  female  subjects  from  all  denom- 
inations can  be  counted  as  engaged  in  mission  work  ; 
nor  does  this  represent  the  whole  number,  as  many  are 
nowhere  enrolled. 

There  is  an  institution  at  Warminster  where  ladies 
may  obtain  practical  training  for  mission  work,  and  at 
Islington  the  Church  Missionary  Society  has  a  home 
where  the  children  of  missionaries  are  received  for 
education. 

The  Society  lor  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  also 
does  something  for  the  education  of  these  children,  but 
prefers  to  take  the  cases  individually. 

I  regret  that  there  is  really  no  history  of  the  work, 
and  the  means  for  forming  one  are  wanting,  but  per- 
haps you  will  kindly  accept  this  as  the  best  essay  I 
have  been  able  to  put  together. 


FEMALE   EDUCATION   IN   THE   EAST.  73 


THE  SOCIETY  FOR  PROMOTING  FEMALE 
EDUCATION  IN  THE  EAST. 

BY   MISS  E.  JANE  WHATELEY,  ONE  OF  ITS  VICE- 
PRESIDENTS.* 

Fifty-nine  years  ago,  in  the  summer  of  1834,  a 
little  company  of  ladies  were  assembled  in  a  private 
drawing-room  in  London  to  listen  to  the  exhortations 
of  an  American  missionary,  the  Rev.  David  Abeel,  just 
returned  from  China  to  recruit  his  broken  health  by  a 
visit  to  England. 

Mr.  Abeel  had  come  from  the  scene  of  his  labors 
with  a  heart  full  of  sorrow  for  the  misery  and  degrada- 
tions of  the  women  of  the  country.  He  felt  that  his 
efforts  and  those  of  his  fellow-workers  could  not  reach 
their  case.  The  gospel,  even  when  preached  in  their 
country,  was  virtually  shut  out  from  them. 

When  the  Christian  Church  first  awoke  from  its 
long  sleep  of  indifference  to  the  call  to  "  teach  all  na- 
tions," the  work  of  missionaries  was,  naturally  enough 
at  first,  purely  general.  In  some  countries  this  might 
make  no  practical  difference ;  but  in  India,  China,  and 
the  East  generally,  domestic  and  social  habits  com- 
pletely excluded  women  from  the  preaching  and  teach- 
ing of  men.  The  existing  schools  were  usually  only 
for  boys.     The  missionary  had  no  means  of  addressing 

*  This  paper  was  the  last  ever  written  by  this  gifted  woman. 
She  was  the  daughter  of  the  famous  Archbishop  Whateley,  and 
the  sister  of  Miss  Mary  Whateley,  the  head  and  foundress  of  the 
Cairo  Mission  Schools  in  Egypt. 


74  WOMAN  IN  MISSIONS. 

the  wives  and  mothers  of  his  hearers.  This  was  pain- 
fully impressed  on  Mr.  Abeel's  mind.  He  pictured  to 
his  English  friends  the  state  of  this  vast  mass  of  East- 
ern women,  oppressed,  trampled  on,  secluded,  and 
utterly  ignorant :  unable  to  be  a  power  for  good,  and 
yet  capable  of  being  a  mighty  power  for  evil ;  for  the 
despised  heathen  mother  had  her  own  means  of  influ- 
encing her  sons,  and  could  often  effectually  prevent 
them  from  listening  to  the  gospel  message.  What  was 
to  be  done  for  this  poor,  down-trodden,  benighted 
multitude  ?  Only  their  own  sex  could  reach  them. 
Would  not  some  of  the  Christian  women  of  England 
stretch  out  a  helping  hand  ? 

This  was  the  substance  of  Mr.  Abeel's  appeal.  It 
stirred  up  the  hearts  of  his  hearers,  and  the  result  was 
that  a  small  band  of  ladies  of  different  denominations 
formed  themselves  into  a  society  for  the  purpose  of 
meeting  the  want  so  powerfully  described.  It  was 
entided  the  "  Society  for  Promoting  Female  Education 
in  the  East,"  India  to  be  included  in  its  sphere  as  well 
as  China.  The  title  seems  cumbrous,  but  it  was  the 
only  one  which  at  the  time  appeared  to  apply  to  the 
effort  to  be  made;  for  the  direct  agencies  of  house-to- 
house  visiting,  addresses  to  groups  of  women,  medical 
and  zenana  work,  etc.,  were  absolutely  shut  out.  The 
only  way  practicable  was  to  endeavor  to  influence 
women  by  means  of  education,  and  this  could  only  be 
done  among  the  humblest  classes,  as  no  others  would 
attend. 

Even  this  means  was  looked  on  by  most  mission- 
ary workers  as  hopeless.  One  most  eminent  and 
honored  laborer  among  the  heathen  in  India  actual- 
ly declared   that   to  attempt  female  education    there 


FEMALE   EDUCATION   IN  THE  EAST.  75 

was  as  hopeless  as  to  try  to  scale  a  wall  500  yards 
high. 

Nevertheless,  individual  efforts  had  been  made 
some  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  before  this  first  gathering 
of  English  ladies.  Miss  Bird  had  gone  to  Calcutta  in 
1819  on  her  own  resources,  and  while  living  with  a 
brother  there  had  endeavored  to  do  all  she  could  for 
the  neglected  girls  around  her.  Miss  Cooke,  after- 
wards Mrs.  Wilson,  entered  the  mission  field  at  the 
same  time,  undaunted  and  undiscouraged  even  by  her 
best  friends  advising  her  to  take  her  return  passage  in 
the  vessel  she  had  just  quitted.  She  went  to  visit  a 
boys'  school,  and  there  found  a  little  girl  who  had  been 
repeatedly  imploring  to  be  taken  in  there  and  taught 
to  read.  She  was  Miss  Cooke's  first  pupil,  and  others 
were  added ;  but  the  work  went  on  slowly.  A  third 
lady  had  gone  to  Malacca  in  1827  at  the  suggestion  of 
a  China  missionary. 

But  these  were  only  isolated  efforts.  The  first  sys- 
tematic attempt  to  reach  the  women  of  heathen  lands 
in  the  only  way  in  which  they  could  be  reached — 
through  their  own  sex — was  made  by  our  Society,  which 
is  consequently  the  earliest  and  first  in  the  field. 

The  difficulties  they  had  to  encounter,  with  so  gen- 
eral an  impression  that  woman's  work  in  the  mission 
field  was  a  wild,  romantic,  and  visionary  idea,  can  hardly 
be  estimated  at  the  present  day.  But  in  spite  of  all 
they  did  find  a  lady  willing  to  go  forth  to  Malacca  in 
aid  of  the  work  already  commenced  by  Miss  Newell. 
This  was  their  first  step.  The  next  was  to  open  a  school 
for  Chinese  girls  at  Singapore ;  and  this  was  perhaps 
one  of  the  most  important  outposts  gained.  For 
through  Singapore    China  could   be  reached,  and  to 


^6  WOMAN    IN   MISSIONS. 

this  day  the  school  commenced  under  Miss  Grant  in 
1843,  and  continued  under  Miss  Cooke,  is  an  invaluable 
help  to  Chinese  missions  by  training  up  a  body  of  effi- 
cient Christian  Chinese  women,  able  to  do  good  work 
either  as  wives  and  mothers  of  Christian  families  or  as 
teachers  and  Bible  women.  Two  years  after  Miss 
Grant's  school  was  commenced  she  had  the  joy  of 
seeing  three  of  her  pupils  baptized  into  the  Church  of 
Christ. 

About  the  same  time  a  lady  of  independent  means, 
Miss  Aldersey,  a  member  of  the  committee  of  the  infant 
Society,  went  to  establish  herself  at  Ningpo,  and  opened 
a  school  there  in  the  midst  of  great  difficulties.  The 
fruits  of  that  work  have  been  evident  at  the  end  of  long 
years,  and  an  Anglo- Indian  pupil  of  hers  was  after- 
wards the  wife  of  one  of  the  earliest  missionary  bishops 
in  China. 

Schools  in  India  had  been  helped  by  the  Society 
from  the  beginning :  but  the  time  was  now  come  for 
such  a  direct  work  in  that  country  as  had  never  been 
looked  on  before  as  even  possible.  Not  long  after 
the  Society's  commencem.ent  four  Hindoo  gentlemen 
actually  consented  to  allow  a  lady  to  visit  the  secluded 
women  of  their  houses,  and  teach  not  only  needlework 
but  reading  from  Christian  school-books. 

This  was  the  inauguration  of  Zenana  work.  Till 
then,  the  Zenanas,  or  apartments  of  Hindoo  ladies,  had 
been  as  effectually  barred  as  the  gates  of  the  strong- 
est prison-house.  Now  the  "  wall  five  hundred  yards 
high  "  was  to  be  scaled  and  the  way  opened  for  the 
numerous  "Zenana  societies"  which  have  since  been 
enabled  to  enter  in.  This  humble  and  at  this  time 
little  known  Society  was  the  one  to  open  the  doors. 


FEMALE   EDUCATION  IN   THE   EAST.  'J'J 

In  1842  they  sent  out  the  first  agent  for  direct  Zenana 
work  on  a  larger  scale :  Miss  Burton  was  appointed  to 
commence  the  work  at  Bombay. 

It  was  a  slow  and  gradual  one.  Many  were  the 
difficulties  :  sometimes  the  door  seemed  closed  by  an 
outburst  of  heathen  bigotry ;  often,  in  many  places, 
the  Christian  teacher's  way  would  have  been  open  if 
she  would  have  consented  to  lay  aside  her  Bible : 
but  they  were  faithful  to  the  charge  laid  on  them,  they 
would  not  yield,  and  by  patient,  gentle  perseverance 
they  won  their  way  for  themselves  and  the  Book. 
The  work  extended — to  South  India  and  Ceylon  on 
one  side,  to  North  India  on  another ;  on  the  Western 
side,  Palestine  and  Syria  were  entered  and  schools 
established  ;  as  soon  as  Japan  was  open  to  missionary 
eftort  the  Society's  agents  were  ready  to  enter.  The 
fort  had  been  stormed  in  every  direction,  and  so,  little 
by  litde,  the  sphere  of  action  has  extended,  and  the 
labors  of  the  Society  became  year  by  year  more 
abundant. 

At  present  its  field  is  wider  than  that  of  any  one 
other  society  of  Female  Missions,  including  India, 
China,  Japan,  the  Straits,  Ceylon,  Mauritius,  West  and 
South  Africa,  the  Levant,  and  Persia. 

But  the  example  set  was  speedily  followed,  and  we 
rejoice  to  be  able  to  point  to  kindred  associations  in 
England,  Scodand,  America  and  the  Continent,  with- 
out counting  the  numerous  private  and  individual  ef- 
forts made  on  the  same  lines.  Truly  the  promise,  "  a 
litde  one  shall  become  a  thousand,"  has  been  carried 
out  to  the  letter :  and  the  small  group  of  praying  wo- 
men who  assembled  at  Mr.  Abeel's  appeal  in  1834 
could  hardly   have   anticipated   that  in  half  a  century 


78  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

more  the  labors  of  Christian  female  missionaries  should 
be  extended  over  nearly  the  whole  world. 

Meantime  our  Society,  the  first  in  the  field,  has 
not  relaxed  its  energies.  After  nearly  sixty  years'  un- 
remitting labor  we  may  briefly  sum  up  its  present  work 
under  the  following  heads  : 

1.  Zenana  work  in  India;  which  is  carried  on  by 
the  Society  at  six  principal  stations  in  that  country, 
besides  partially  aiding  six  others  in  addition. 

2.  Medical  missions,  wherever  openings  can  be 
found,  where  lady  practitioners  can  obtain  access  to 
suffering  women  who  can  obtain  no  other  efficient  re- 
lief in  sickness. 

3.  Village  missions,  and  work  among  the  crowds 
who  attend  native  festivals. 

4.  Schools  of  various  kinds — boarding,  day,  and 
Sunday.  In  every  country  where  the  society  works 
these  are  established,  and  many  others  not  directly 
under  their  control  are  aided  by  them  constantly. 

5.  House  to  house  visitation,  and  Bible  and  sewing 
classes. 

6.  The  training  of  native  agents  for  Zenana  mis- 
sionaries, Bible  women,  district  visitors  and  school 
teachers.  This  is  one  of  the  most  important  branches 
of  the  work,  and  is  diligendy  carried  on.  There  is 
now  a  numerous  body  of  well-trained  Christian  native 
workers,  in  all  the  countries  where  the  Society  is  em- 
ployed, busily  engaged  in  all  these  various  departments 
of  labor  among  the  women  and  girls  whose  tongue  they 
speak. 

7.  Mothers'  meetings,  and  branches  of  the  Young 
Women's  Christian  Association,  and  of  the  Bible  and 
Frayer  Union. 


FEMALE   EDUCATION   IN  THE   EAST.  79 

Of  course  these  various  branches  are  variously 
carried  out  in  their  details  according  to  the  country 
and  station  where  they  are  working.  But  in  all  of 
them  the  word  of  God  is  in  the  hands  of  the  mission 
teacher,  and  her  first  aim  is  to  lead  all  those  she  instructs 
to  the  knowledge  of  salvation  through  Christ  and  the 
blessed  truths  of  the  gospel.  Great  pains  are  taken  to 
ensure  good  and  practical  education  of  all  kinds,  but 
Christian  training  is  the  highest  object  and  never  lost 
sight  of 

In  the  early  days  of  the  Society  it  was  only,  as  has 
been  observed,  among  the  humblest  classes  that  these 
educational  efforts  could  be  made :  now  all  ranks  and 
all  classes  are  open  to  influence,  and  wherever  it  has 
been  possible  to  enter  the  Society's  agents  have  been 
ready  to  do  so. 

Besides  the  stations  and  agents  under  the  direct 
control  of  the  Society  it  has  been  from  its  earliest 
foundation  the  medium  of  extending  help  to,  and 
friendly  cooperation  with,  many  independent  workers 
who  had  gone  out  on  their  own  charges,  but  found 
after  a  time  that  aid  from  home  was  needed.  Miss 
Aldersey  and  Miss  Baxter  in  China,  Mrs.  Watson  in 
Syria,  my  own  sister  in  Egypt,  were  among  those  who 
have  received  this  fraternal  aid,  and  there  are  others 
who  still  live  to  avail  themselves  of  it  and  work  hand 
in  hand  with  the  Society."  Many  schools,  either 
privately  established  or  connected  with  other  missions, 
are  almost  entirely  supported  by  the  sale  of  boxes  of 
work  forwarded  by  the  committee  annually. 

To  detail  all,  or  even  a  small  part  of  the  results  of 
this  work  of  fifty-nine  years,  time  and  space  far  beyond 
what  is  at  our  command  would  fail.      A  few  instances 


80  WOMAN  IN   MISSIONS. 

may  give  some  idea  of  the  blessings  which  have  fol- 
lowed. Only  within  the  last  year,  a  Christian  lady  of 
Madras,  Mrs.  Sattianadham,  was  called  to  her  rest. 
She  was  the  daughter  of  a  mother  trained  in  the  Soci- 
ety's schools,  as  she  herself  also  had  been :  and  during 
her  life  she  was  the  centre  and  directress  of  an  exten- 
sive Zenana  and  school  mission  in  which  her  daughters 
are  still  employed.  And  this  is  only  one  case  out  of 
many  in  which  one  generation  after  another  of  native 
Christian  women  trained  in  these  schools  have  been 
carrying  on  active  mission  and  educational  work  among 
their  own  countrywomen,  and  giving  at  the  same  time 
an  example  of  Christian  life  in  the  family  at  home. 

Some  years  ago,  two  ladies  deeply  interested  in 
the  work  were  visiting  the  Asiatic  Home  in  London, 
in  which  many  Hindoo  ayahs  are  received  while  wait- 
ing an  opportunity  of  returning  to  their  own  country. 

Among  these  groups  their  attention  was  directed 
to  one  woman  whose  countenance  and  bearing  had 
something  quite  unlike  the  rest.  There  was  a  look  of 
intelligence  and  thought,  a  civiHzed  air  which  con- 
trasted with  the  faces  around  her.  The  thought  struck 
them  both,  "Surely  this  woman  must.be  a  Christian." 

They  entered  into  conversation  with  her  —  she 
spoke  English  sufficiently  well — and  they  found  she 
was  an  old  pupil  of  Miss  Austen,  one  of  the  Society's 
agents  at  Madras.  She  was  a  Christian  from  convic- 
tion, and  when  asked  if  they  could  do  anything  for  her 
made  it  an  especial  request  that  she  might  have  some 
tracts  and  portions  of  Scripture  in  her  own  tongue  for 
distribution. 

In  China  and  the  Straits  the  same  experience  is 
met  with.      One  native  catechist,  sent  to  a  peculiarly 


FEMALE  EDUCATION   IN  THE  EAST.  8 1 

difficult  and  arduous  Chinese-speaking  station,  where 
he  met  with  continual  opposition,  said  he  could  hardly 
have  stood  his  ground  without  the  support  and  courage 
and  sympathy  of  his  Christian  wife,  a  pupil  trained  in 
Miss  Cooke's  school  at  Singapore,  the  same  which  had 
been  commenced  in  the  early  years  of  our  work.  Many 
such  trained  Christian  women  are  now  acting  as 
Bible  women  and  teachers  in  China  and  Chinese-speak- 
ing stations. 

Those  who  have  visited  schools  in  Syria  and  Pales- 
tine have  been  ready  to  bear  witness  to  the  excellence 
of  those  established  under  the  Society's  auspices  in  the 
Lebanon  and  the  Holy  Land.  The  boarding-schools 
especially,  at  Nazareth  and  Bethlehem,  have  awakened 
a  lively  interest  in  all  who  have  seen  them. 

In  Persia  efficient  work  has  been  commenced ; 
one  most  highly  qualified  and  valued  agent  has  been 
arrested  by  death  in  the  middle  of  her  work,  but 
others  will  not  be  lacking  to  fill  her  place. 

In  South  Africa,  Kaffir  and  Zulu  girls  been  have 
rescued  from  what  would  have  been  a  life  of  unspeak- 
able degradation,  as  well  as  misery,  by  the  excellent 
boarding-schools  established  at  several  stations. 

A  good  work  has  also  long  been  carried  on  in 
more  than  one  locality  in  West  Africa,  and  many 
schools  aided  from  the  Society's  funds  and  the  sale  of 
work. 

But  we  can  only  indicate  thus  briefly  scenes  of 
Christian  labor  throughout  all  the  Eastern  Hemisphere, 
which  sufficiently  show  that  the  fortress  once  deemed 
impregnable  has  been  entered,  and  the  barriers  broken 
down ;  and  in  all  parts  women  are  now  speaking  to 
women  of  the  love  of  that  Saviour  whose  tender  com- 
6 


82  WOMAN  IN  MISSIONS. 

passion  to  them  awakens  often  the  most  touching  sur- 
prise as  well  as  joy.  I 

"  That  he  should  have  spoken  so  to  a  woman  /" 
has  been  again  and  again  the  exclamation  of  some 
poor  crushed  soul  sufficiendy  awake  to  feel  the  misery 
of  her  state. 

We  thankfully  acknowledge  that  what  we  have 
been  saying  of  our  Society's  work  and  its  present  re- 
sults can  be  said  of  many  similar  agencies  engaged 
in  the  same  work  and  in  the  same  spirit.  We  thank 
God  for  them  all,  and  know  well  there  is  room  for 
hundreds  more  of  such. 

But  we  venture  to  mention,  in  behalf  of  this 
special  one,  two  peculiar  claims  to  general  interest  and 
sympathy. 

ist.  Its  being  the  earliest  in  the  field,  and  the  par- 
ent, so  to  say,  of  more  recent  ones. 

2nd.  The  extensive  sphere  covered  by  its  agency, 
including  full  half  the  globe. 

To  this  we  may  add  the  very  strict  economy  ob- 
served in  all  its  arrangements. 

But  our  object  is  only  to  give  a  briel  notice  of 
what  this  agency  has  accomplished,  and  we  would 
close  by  inviting  all  who  are  now  doing  the  same  work 
to  unite  with  us  in  fervent  thanksgivings  to  Him  whose 
power  has  overcome  such  strongholds  of  evil,  and  to 
exclaim  from  the  heart,  "  What  hath  God  wrought !" 


ORGANIZED   MISSIONARY   WORK  83 


HISTORY   OF    WOMAN'S    ORGANIZED 

MISSIONARY  WORK  AS  PROMOTED 

BY  AMERICAN  WOMEN. 

BY   MISS   ELLEN  C.    PARSONS. 

When  Columbus  came  to  the  Spanish  court  with 
his  reasonable  eloquence  it  fell  on  many  indifferent  or 
suspicious  ears,  but  Isabella  believed.  "  Amid  the  gen- 
eral incredulity,"  he  says,  "  the  Almighty  infused  the 
Queen,  my  Lady,  with  a  spirit  of  intelligence  and 
energy,  and  while  every  one  else  expatiated  on  the 
inconvenience  and  cost  she  gave  all  the  support  in 
her  power."  That  country,  which  she  cheered  on  an 
enthusiast  to  find,  the  women  whose  birthright  it  is 
have  determined  shall  be  preserved.  Isabella  pled 
with  every  fresh  outgoing  commander  across  the  At- 
lantic that  he  would  be  pitiful  to  the  poor  slaves  in 
the  West  Indies :  in  our  time  we  have  seen  cultivated 
women  go  down  themselves  to  the  degraded  black 
race,  the  abused  red  race,  the  scorned  yellow  race. 
The  devout  queen  of  the  fifteenth  century  yearned  to 
send  the  holy  faith  abroad  and  to  save  souls  in  India, 
China  and  Japan.  Yes,  lovely  Isabella,  you  took  the 
longest  way  round,  but  it  was  the  shortest  way  home 
to  the  consummation  of  your  wish.  American  women, 
rank  upon  rank,  respond  to  your  longing.  They  have 
torn  off  the  fifteenth  century  clasp  from  your  Bible 
and  sent  the  Word  of  God  to  have  free  course  in  the 
real  China,  India  and  Japan.     If,  after   four   hundred 


84  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

years  of  heavenly  training,  she  has  developed  anything 
in  proportion  to  the  goodness  of  her  life  on  earth,  it 
would  rejoice  Isabella  m  jre  to-day  to  know  that  than 
to  know  the  distinguished  fact  of  a  civilized  world  cele- 
brating the  discovery  with  which  her  name  is  Hnked. 

The  history  of  organized  missionary  work  as  pro- 
moted by  women  in  this  country  is  a  history  of  a  dis- 
ciplined army  developed  in  place  of  volunteer  pickets. 
Early  Local       There  was  a  short  and  wavering  picket 
Societies.         jjj^g   q^  women's   societies    which    ap- 
peared in  advance  of  the  main  column,  at  Boston  in 
1800;  at  New  Haven  in  181 2;  at  New  York  city  by 
1 8 14;  at  Norwich,  Conn.,   18 16;  af  Tallmadge,  Ohio, 
18 16;  at  Derry,  Pennsylvania,  two  years  after ;  at  Phil- 
adelphia,  1823;  Bedford,  New   York,    1831 ;  Newark, 
New  Jersey,    1835 ;    Washington,    Pennsylvania,    the 
same  year;  Allegheny,  Pennsylvania,  in  1838;  Rock- 
ford,  Illinois,  the  same  year;  Sutton,  Vermont,   1847; 
Baltimore,  Maryland,   1848.      Some  of  these  pioneers 
never  lowered  their  colors  but  lived  to  celebrate  their 
jubilee,  and  when  the  modern  movement  began  they 
were  the  first  to  come  forward,  with  their  old  banners 
flying,  to  constitute  the  nuclei  of  the  more  comprehen- 
sive Woman's  Boards.      Early    in  the  century,  Cent 
Societies  (sometimes  pathetically  named  "  Female  Cent 
Societies  ")  were  general  in  New  England  and  sporadic 
in  the  Middle  States  ;  one  such  in  Sewickly,  Pennsyl- 
vania, in  1S30,  and  another  in  New  London,  Pennsyl- 
vania, as  late  as  1832  sent  contributions  to  the  Presby- 
terian Board  of  Foreign  Missions.     The  New  Hamp- 
shire Cent  Institution,  founded  in  1804,  is  with  us  still. 
During  86  years  it  has  contributed  $120,000  to  home 
missions,    besides    accumulating    a    fund    of  $12,000. 


ORGANIZED    MISSIONARY   WORK.  85 

Nothing  but  the  grit  of  the  granite  hills  could  have 
kept  alive  a  society  so  loosely  organized,  having  mem- 
bers in  105  churches,  only  one  officer,  and  never  hold- 
ing a  meeting  for  76  years.  After  1812,"  Ladies'  Associ- 
ations "  multiplied,  and  by  1839,  680  such  were  collect- 
ing funds  for  the  American  Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 

The  history  of  this  woman's  miissionary  movement 
is  a  history  of  holy  fellowship  that  was  impossible  to 
the  ancient  world.  It  overlooks  denominational  bounda- 
ries ;  the  active  missionary  spirits  in  different  branches 
of  the  church  are  those  who  are  closest  together  in 
Christian  sympathy.  No  ocean  can  affect  this  tie.  A 
British  sister  has  but  to  step  into  one  of  our  Mission 
Rooms  and  inquire  for  a  leaflet,  or  bring  a  m.essage 
into  our  meetings,  and  we  recognize  at  once  the  bond 
of  fellowship  in  a  sacred  cause.  What  did  the  Aspasias, 
the  Alcinoes  or  Penelopes  of  old  Greece,  whose  very 
goddesses  lived  in  envy  and  jealousy  of  one  another, 
know  of  such  comradery  and  enthusiasm  between 
women?  It  could  never  have  drawn  the  breath  of 
life  except  in  the  atmosphere  of  Christianity. 

This  histor)'  is  a  record  of  women  called  forth  from 
the  conservatism  in  which  they  were  entrenched.  Our 
English  and  Scotch  sisters  were  twenty  years  in  ad- 
vance of  us  in  organized  missionary  work.  (We  have 
caught  up  with  them  since.)  There  was  a  teirifying 
word  abroad,  and  every  self-respecting  woman  shud- 
dered at  the  thought  of  "  comiC-outism."  Then  there 
v.as  the  conservatism  of  the  church,  for  the  new  version 
of  Psalm  68 :  1 1  was  not  yet  revealed.  The  story  is 
given  as  authentic  of  a  pastor  in  Michigan  who  insisted 
on  being  always  present  in  the  women's  meetings :  "  No 
one  knew  what  they  would  pray  lor,  if  left  alone."     "  I 


86  WOMAN  IN   MISSIONS. 

cannot  recommend,"  said  the  venerable  Dr.  Anderson 
of  the  American  Board  to  his  associate,  Rev.  N.  G. 
Clark,  "  I  cannot  recommend  bringing  the  women  into 
this  work;  but  you  are  a  young  man,  go  on  and  do  it 
if  you  can."  It  is  safe  to  say  that,  without  encourage- 
ment from  such  secretaries  as  Dr.  Clark  and  others  of 
like  spirit,  the  history  which  this  occasion  calls  for 
would  have  been  far  other  and  briefer  than  it  is. 

Early  Sacrifices  for  But     did     devOUt    WOmCH     of    the 

Missions.  church  wait  for  the  advantages  of  gen- 
eral organization  before  attempting  missionary  work  ? 
By  no  means.  From  the  first  they  were  offering  per- 
sonal service,  gifts,  prayers.  The  first  ship  that  carried 
American  missionaries  to  the  heathen  world  bore  away 
Harriet  Newell  and  Ann  Haseltine  Judson.  In  1817 
two  unmarried  ladies  were  teaching  among  the  North 
American  Indians,  and  by  18S0,  104  had  been  sent  to 
the  different  tribes  by  a  single  Board.  For  forty  years 
before  the  modern  movement  the  silent  partners  in  the 
hardships  of  the  missionary  cabin  on  the  frontier  were 
recognized,  if  unnamed,  heroines  of  the  church.  This 
was  the  era  of  the  universal  sewing  -  society  and  the 
home-missionary  box.  Before  railroads,  in  the  days  of 
canal-boats,  when  postage  was  twenty-five  cents  and 
purchasing  by  sample  through  the  mail  was  yet  unin- 
vented ;  in  those  days  when  Daniel  Webster  was  in  the 
habit  of  referring  to  a  trip  to  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  as  "  my 
visit  to  the  West" — oh,  then,  great  was  the  Box! 
Small  need  for  the  mothers  in  Israel  to  spend  their  time 
in  surmising  what  would  be  acceptable,  as  they  gathered 
round  to  pack  it,  for,  after  perhaps  a  decade  of  years 
since  she  went  out  from  the  East  with  her  bridal  trous- 
seau, at    a  distance  of,  it  may  be,  300  miles  from  the 


ORGANIZED   MISSIONARY  WORK.  87 

nearest  trading  post,  and  the  frontier  cabin  filling  with 
little  heads  all  the  while,  what  was  there,  that  fingers 
could  make,  which  the  missionary  mother  did  not  need  ? 
No  small  contribution  of  sympathy,  constancy  and  sub- 
stantial aid  did  a  generation  of  women  put  into  those 
boxes.  Occasionally  a  brother  started  for  the  frontier 
clad  in  the  suit  of  homespun  which  their  hands  had  made 
from  the  raw  product  of  the  flax  field  and  sheep's  back. 
Beyond  computation  were  the  pairs  of  socks  they  knit 
and  sent  after  the  boxes,  or,  when  little  money  was  in 
circulation,  turned  into  cash  in  the  East.  The  early 
pages  of  the  treasurers'  books  of  every  missionary  soci- 
ety in  this  country  record  our  grandmothers'  tithes  of 
self-denial  and  plain  toil. 

On  page  159  of  the  "  Panoplist,"  published  in  Bos- 
ton in  1813,  appears  the  following  letter,  addressed  to 
the  Treasurer  of  the  American  Board  : 

Bath,  N.  H.,  August  17,  1813. 
Dear  Sir: — Mr.  M will  deliver  $177  into  your  hands. 

The  items  are  as  follows: 

From  an  obscure  female  who  kept  the  money  for  many 
years,  waiting  for  a  proper  opportunity  to  bestow  it 
upon  a  religious  object $100  00 

From  an  aged  woman  in  Barnet,  Vt.,  being  the  avails 
of  a  small  dairy  the  past  year 50  00 

From  the  same  being,  the  avails  of  two  superfluous  gar- 
ments   lo  00 

From  the  Cent  Society  in  this  place,  being  half  their 
annual  subscription 11  00 

My  own  donation,  being  the  sum  hitherto  expended  in 
ardent  spirits  in  my  family,  but  now  totally  discon- 
tinued   5  00 

From  a  woman  in  extreme  indigence i  00 

Total— - $177  00 

The  same  Board   in   18 13  also   received  its  first 


88  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

legacy,  $345  83,  left  by  Sally  Thomas,  a  domestic, 
whose  wages  had  never  exceeded  fifty  cents  a  week ; 
and,  two  years  after,  the  largest  legacy  received  for 
many  years,  $30,000,  from  Mrs.  Norris  of  Salem,  Mass. 
By  faith,  ladies  of  Brookline,  Mass.,  made  regular  con- 
tributions for  the  work  of  the  gospel  in  Japan  while  as 
yet  that  country  was  sealed  against  foreigners.  The 
$600  which  they  placed  in  the  treasury  had  become, 
with  its  accruing  interest,  $4,104.23  by  the  time  the 
American  Board  was  ready  to  send  its  first  missionaries 
to  Japan,  and  was  used  for  that  purpose. 

Glancing  down  the  columns  of  the  "  Missionary 
Reporter,"  published  in  1830,  one  discovers  that  pas- 
tors were  often  made  life  members  of  the  Board  of  Mis- 
sions by  ladies  of  their  congregations.  Interspersed 
among  gifts  from  the  "  Female  Benevolent  Society  "  (a 
very  common  designation),  the  "  Female  Association," 

"  Young  Ladies,"  from  "  Miss  B 's  scholars,"  "  Two 

little  girls,"  "  Widow  Fulton,"  and  (rare)  "  Female 
Praying  Society,"  one  finds  frequent  gifts  from  individ- 
ual women,  their  names  for  the  most  part  being  sup- 
pressed, while  that  of  the  transmitting  pastor  is  given 
in  full,  as :  "  From  a  female  friend  of  missions  per 
Rev."  So-and-so ;  "  Donation  from  a  lady ;  ditto  from 

a  poor  woman,  by  Rev.  ."     There  was  another 

species  of  gift  essentially  womanlike,  and  characteristic 
of  the  past  rather  than  the  present :  it  was  the  gem 
loosened  from  the  finger,  the  heirloom,  the  souvenir, 
the  memorial  of  a  child,  the  token  found  in  the  purse 
of  a  dead  friend,  the  piece  of  family  plate,  Hke  a  certain 
memorable  silver  coflfee-pot,  the  offering  of  a  Connec- 
ticut parsonage.  The  latter  went  to  one  missionary 
meeting  and    the    mothers    dropped    in   their   silver 


ORGANIZED   MISSIONARY   WORK.  89 

coins  ;*  after  fifty  years  it  went  to  another  meeting,  and 
the  daughters  put  in  their  bank  bills ; j  and  now  it  has 
come  to  the  World's  Fair  to  prompt  a  generous  gift 
once  more.  The  money  value  of  such  relics  was  not 
commensurate  with  the  devotion  which  they  illustra- 
ted— perhaps  the  treasurer  regarded  them  askance; 
but,  after  all,  these  trinkets  shine  down  the  years,  like 
Isabella's  jewels,  with  a  glow  of  womanly  sincerity,  the 
evidence  of  woman's  resourcefulness. 

But  all  these  gifts  were  transmitted  uneconomically. 
Local  societies  were  inadequate.  Prayer  for  missions 
more  precious  and  availing  was  never  breathed,  but  it 
rose  isolated.  It  lacked  the  social  element  and  needed 
quickening  through  knowledge.  The  time  came  when 
a  new  order  was  demanded.  The  lamp  of  woman's 
love  would  always  have  burned  on  within  the  church. 
Always  individual  hearts  would  have  been  loyal  to 
missions.  Local  societies  would  have  continued  to 
spring  up  and  effect  more  than  individuals,  and,  like 
their  predecessors,  few  would  have  survived  an  ephe- 
meral life.  But  without  a  specific  call  and  a  new  meth- 
od the  mass  of  women  in  the  church  would  never  have 
been  sufficiently  informed  upon  missions  nor  sufficiently 
in  touch  with  them  to  make  many  sacrifices  for  them. 

What  was  it  that  shook  the  Church,  roused  the 
women  to  united,  systematic,  concentrated  action,  that 
moved  on  and  on,  a  compelling  force,  until  we  now 
have  in  this  country  the  spectacle  of  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  women,  representing  every  branch  of  the 
Christian  Church,  banded  together  in  chartered  socie- 
ties and  disbursing  from  one  to  one-and-a-half  millions 
of  dollars   every  year?     Only   one  other  movement, 

*  Amounting  to  $300.  f  $500. 


90  WOMAN   IN    MISSIONS, 

that  of  the  Temperance  Union,  compares  with  it  in 
numbers  and  moral  power.  Whence  came  that  power- 
ful voice  which  evoked  so  much  energy  and  action  ? 
It  was  not  patriotism  warning  of  the  menace  in  an  in- 
coming tide  of  immigrants  ;  that  came  later.  It  was 
not  national  remorse  demanding  reparation  for  the  ex- 
iled Indian.  It  was  not  even  the  last  command  of 
Jesus,  "  Disciple  all  nations,"  like  a  clarion  call  to  the 
conscience.  It  was  a  human  cry  appealing  expressly 
to  woman's  tenderness,  and  it  pierced  her  heart.  It 
sounded  out  from  black  heathenism,  ages  old,  lost,  vast, 
awful — the  heart-break  of  motherhood,  the  stifled  cry 
of  distorted  childhood ;  this  was  what  happy  women 
heard  in  their  happy,  protected  homes. 

"Are  there  ^ny  female  men  among  you  to  come 
and  teach  us  f  asked  a  group  of  Chinese  women 
twenty-nine  years  ago  of  the  American  missionary. 
"  You  must  send  us  single  women,"  wrote  the  wife  of 
the  Methodist  missionary  at  Bareilly,  India,  and  she 
painted  the  picture  of  zenana  life.  David  Abeel  came 
home  on  purpose  to  make  English-speaking  women 
understand  in  what  bondage  and  despair  their  oriental 
sisters  were.  Women,  and  only  women,  could  meet 
the  need.  Something  less  strenuous  might  have  caught 
the  ear,  but  it  required  a  call  just  so  terrible,  importu- 
nate, so  shut  up  to  woman,  to  fasten  irresistibly  upon 
her  heart. 

How  societies  have  developed  that  sprang  into 
being  from  this  motive,  and  with  the  aim  to  answer  this 
call,  is  matter  of  history,  to  be  found  in  printed  annual 
reports  (many  of  them  thick  pamphlets)  of  thirty-three 
separate  Boards  or  Societies,  representing  twenty  dif- 
ferent  branches  of  the  church,  in  our  country.      An 


ORGANIZED   MISSIONARY  WORK.  9 1 

extended  account  may  also  be  found  in  the  "  Encyclo- 
pedia of  Missions,"  published  in  1891. 

Organized  missionary  work,  as  promoted  by  Amer- 
ican women,  practically  began  in  1861  with  the  Union 
Society  in  New  York  city.  It  was  founded  by  Mrs. 
Doremus.  "  While  others  expatiated  on  the  inconve- 
nience and  cost,  if  not  the  fanaticism  of  such  a  project, 
she,  like  Isabella,  believed  in  things  not  seen,  and 
acted  with  an  "  intelligence  and  energy  "  inspired  from 
above. 

Just  at  this  time  the  Civil  War  broke  out  in  the 
Republic,  and  it  seems  hardly  necessary  to  remind 
ourselves  how,  for  the  five  years  that  followed,  the  lei- 
sure of  patriotic  women  was  absorbed  in  equipping 
regiments,  in  administering  soldiers'  hospitals,  or  in 
Sanitary  Commission  service.  It  was  a  training-school, 
and  the  end  of  the  war  found  many  women  who  had 
learned  to  cooperate  with  others  in  work,  to  bear  re- 
sponsibility, to  value  method,  and  whom  the  war  had 
left  with  more  power  than  ever  to  bless  others,  and 
at  the  same  time  with  fewer  personal  claims  upon  them. 
Much  of  this  training  was  providentially  turned  into  the 
channel  of  missions. 

The  Union  Society  was  independent  of  denomina- 
tion and  composed  of  members  from  six  branches  of 
the  church.  It  stood  alone  for  seven  years ;  then  Con- 
gregational Church  women  organized  boards  at  Boston 
and  Chicago  to  work  on  church  lines  and  in  cooperation 
with  the  general  Board  already  existing.  This  thought 
communicated  itself;  the  torch  was  quickly  carried 
from  one  church  altar  to  another.  Now  began  the 
massing  of  forces  which  should  be  as  much  more  effec- 
tive than  the  old  order  as  the  onset  of  an  army  is  supe- 


92  WOMAN   IN    MISSIONS. 

rior  to  the  desultory  firing  of  a  picket  guard.  Distin- 
guished authorities  have  expressed  their  estimate  of 
the  value  of  this  movement. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Woman's  Society  of  the  Prot- 
AJvanta-ef;  of  estant  Episcopal  Church,  held  in  Chi- 
organizttion.      ^^^^  -^^  jg35    gishop  Doane  spoke  as 

follows :  "  The  two  principles  of  this  whole  work  are 
loving  organization  and  organized  love  ....  The 
two  things  need  to  be  together.  Unloving  organiza- 
tion is  dead  machinery,  a  steamless  engine,  a  windmill 
in  the  dog-days,  a  water-wheel  in  a  dried-up  stream ; 
and  unorganized  love  is  a  spring  freshet,  a  tidal  wave. 
The  one  is  dry  and  stiff  and  hard,  the  other  is  gush- 
ing and  sentimental  and  short-lived.  But  organized 
love  and  loving  organization,  which  are  the  essential 
and  characteristic  features  of  this  Auxiliary,  have  in 
them  the  power  of  an  endless  life.  When  you  add 
to  this  the  value  of  associated  and  directed  work,  and 
remember  how  these  women  have  touched  every  class 
and  condition  of  men ;  and  add  to  this  the  value  of 
their  Quiet  Days  and  Conferences,  you  can  perhaps 
begin  to  estimate  the  value  of  what  has  been  done." 

Rev.  F.  F.  EUinwood,  D.  D.,  Secretary  of  the 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
(North),  is  accustomed  in  his  public  addresses  to  di- 
rectly connect  the  beginnings  and  progress  of  the 
women's  societies  with  the  Student  Volunteer  Move- 
ment. He  points  out  that  25  years  ago  our  Christian 
women  began  to  carry  foreign  missions  into  the  home, 
to  the  fireside,  and  that,  unitedly  in  social  meetings 
and  alone  in  the  closet,  they  have  all  these  years  since 
been  pouring  out  prayer  for  this  cause ;  and  now  here 
are  the  living  answers :  young  men  and  maidens  in 


ORGANIZED   MISSIONARY  WORK.  93 

their  teens  and  early  twenties  offering  themselves  for 
foreign  service.  "  If  the  women's  societies  had  not 
done  another  thing,"  says  Dr.  Ellinwood,  "  this  is  ten 
thousand  times  worth  all  their  efforts."  And  where 
such  seers  on  the  watch-towers  have  discerned  general 
value  the  women  themselves  have  a  thousand  times 
testified  to  personal  blessings :  to  deliverance  from 
frivolous  occupations ;  to  enlargement  in  narrow  cir- 
cumstances ;  to  joy  in  use  of  talents  shaken  from  the 
napkin.  A  Canadian  delegate  to  the  London  Confer- 
ence in  1890  said,  "It  is  sometimes  claimed  that  we 
(women)  are  much  disposed  to  talk  and  not  always  to 
talk  wisely.  We  have  not  always  had  very  great 
things  to  talk  about ;  but  now  we  have  something  wor- 
thy our  time  and  trouble." 

The  track  of  the  societies  is  marked  by  intellectual 
and  spiritual  growth  of  the  members.  There  has  been 
a  steady  evolution  from  the  timid  objection  to  read  a 
letter  in  public,  or  hold  an  office,  to  the  best  utterances 
of  gifted  and  devout  women.  There  has  been  a  steady 
development  in  the  conception  of  the  scope  of  mission- 
ary work.  For  example:  from  (i)  interest  in  "one 
child"  whose  photograph  we  must  own  and  whose 
conversion  must  be  assured  in  advance,  to  (2)  a  "  schol- 
arship"; (3)  a  "share  in  a  school";  (4)  (coming,  if  not 
already  attained),  a  "  share  in  the  educational  work  of 
a  mission." 

Every  one  will  admit  that  these  results  at  home, 
as  well  as  all  that  has  been  accomplished  on  the  field, 
have  been  immeasurably  greater  with  the  stimulus  and 
momentum  of  concerted  action  than  if  every  individual 
had  acted  alone.  Take  the  matter  of  contributions. 
Though,  as  we  have  seen,  there  were  always  women 


94  WOMAN  IN   MISSIONS. 

givers  to  missions,  is  it  not  true  that,  in  a  former  gen- 
eration, the  majority  of  the  wives  sat  at  one  end  of  the 
pew  and  beheld  their  husbands  at  the  other  end  drop- 
ping the  family  contribution  into  the  passing  box,  com- 
fortably free  themselves  from  either  responsibility  or 
motive  for  self-denial  ?  Through  participating  in  the 
direction  of  missionary  work  multitudes  of  women  have 
acquired  the  sense  of  responsibility,  and  give  their 
money  with  the  feeling  of  a  shareholder.  Without  the 
Society  and  the  appointed  solicitor  much  would  be  lost 
both  to  meetings  and  the  treasury.  The  interested  wo- 
man goes  to  the  uninterested  woman  and  brings  her 
to  the  Auxiliary.  She,  comes  and  bears  her  part,  be- 
cause she  is  invited.  Add  to  this  that  the  Society  has, 
by  precept  and  pledges,  cultivated  systematic  and  Bib- 
lical giving,  and  we  may  reasonably  claim  that  the 
pronounced  aim,  "  to  secure  funds  which  would  not 
otherwise  be  given,"  has  been  to  a  great  extent  fulfilled. 
This  is  the  opinion  held  by  church  boards  and  by  lead- 
ing business  men  connected  with  them.  This  training 
of  women  to  give  and  interesting  them  in  something 
worthy  of  their  gifts  came  none  too  soon,  for  the  last 
quarter  century  has  seen  an  enormous  advance  in  this 
country  in  the  amount  of  property  that  has  come  un- 
der the  absolute  control  of  Christian  women. 

Date  of  the  The  Organization  of  these  societies 

Societies.        occurred,  in  the  order  of  time,  as  follows: 

1861.    Woman's  Union  Missionary  Society,  New  York. 
1868.    Woman's    Board    of   Missions   (Boston),     Congregational 
Church. 

1868.  Woman's  Board  of  the  Interior  (Chicago),  Congregational 

Church. 

1869.  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  (Boston),  Methodist 

Episcopal  Church,  North. 


ORGANIZED   MISSIONARY   WORK.  95 

1870.  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  (Philadelphia),  Pres- 

byterian Church,  North. 
iSjo.     Woman's  Board  of  Missions  of  the  Northwest  (Chicago), 
Presbyterian  Church,  North. 

1570.  Woman's  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  (New  York),  Presby- 

terian Church,  North. 

1871.  Woman's  Auxiliary  to  the  Board  of  Missions  (New  York), 

Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 

1571.  Woman's    Foreign    Missionary   Society    (Boston),   Baptist 

Church,  Northern  Convention. 

1871.  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the  West  (Chi- 
cago), Baptist  Church,  Northern  Convention. 

1S71.  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  Northern  New 
York  (Albany),  Presbyterian  Church,  North. 

1871.  Woman's  Board  of  Missions  of  the  Pacific  Islands  (Hono- 
lulu), Congregational  Church. 

1S73.     Woman's  Missionary  Society,  Free  Baptist  Church. 

1873.  Woman's  Occidental  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  (San 
Francisco),  Presbyterian  Church,  North. 

1873.  Woman's  Board  of  the  Pacific  (San  Francisco),  Congrega- 

tional Church. 

1874.  Woman's  Mite  Missionary  Society,  African  Methodist  Epis- 

copal Church. 

1875.  Woman's    Board   of    Foreign  Missions   (New  York),   Re- 

formed (Dutch)  Church  in  America. 

1875.     Woman's  Board  of  Missions,  Christian  (Disciples)  Church. 

1S75.  Woman's  Missionary  Association,  United  Brethren  in 
Christ. 

1875.  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  California,  Bap- 
tist Church,  Northern  Convention. 

1S77.  Woman's  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Southwest 
(St.  Louis),  Presbyterian  Church,  North. 

1878.  Woman's  Missionary  Society  (Nashville),  Methodist  Epis- 

copal Church,  South. 

1879.  Woman's  Home  and    Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the 

General  Synod,  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church. 

1879.  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  Methodist  Protes- 
tant Church. 

iSSo.  Wo.man's  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  Cumberland  Presby- 
terian Church. 

i8Si.     Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Union,  of  Friends. 


96  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

1883.    Woman's  General  Missionary  Society  (Xenia,  Ohio),  Uni- 
*ted  Presbyterian  Church. 

1883.  Woman's     Missionary    Society,    Evangelical    Association 

(German  Churches)  of  North  America. 

1884.  Woman's  Missionary  Union,  Southern  Baptist  Convention. 
1884.     Woman's  Board  of  General  Conference,  Seventh-day  Bap- 
tist. 

1888.    Woman's  Board  of  the  North  Pacific  (Oregon),  Presbyte- 
rian Church,  North. 

1888.  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  Oregon,  Baptist 

Church,  Northern  Convention. 

1889.  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  (Boston),  Reformed 

Episcopal  Church. 

A  general  Woman's  Board  is  now  found  in  nearly 
every  leading  denomination  of  Christians,  the  chief 
exception  being  that  of  the  Presbyterian  church  in  the 
South.  This  has,  however,  the  potentiality  of  a  strong 
organization  in  729  societies  existing  in  as  many  con- 
gregations. They  are  direcdy  auxiliary  to  the  Board 
of  that  church,  and  have  been  forming  since  1874. 

All  these  different  organizations  work  with  vary- 
Variety  in  Method,  i^g  methods,  each  according  to  the 
Unity  of  Aim.  genius  of  the  church  it  represents. 
While  the  majority  of  them  sustain  missionaries  ap- 
pointed by  the  church  board,  or  at  most  only  "  recom- 
mended" from  themselves,  Methodist  women,  the 
Friends,  and  of  course  the  Union  Society  are  account- 
able to  no  Board  above  them.  While  the  Methodist 
Society  (in  the  North)  sends  out  only  unmarried  wo- 
•  men  most  societies  adopt  some  wives  as  well,  and  the 
Christian  Woman's  Board  enrolls  more  men  than  wo- 
men missionaries.  In  auxiliaries  of  the  Methodist  Prot- 
estant Church  in  West  Virginia  men  were  appointed 
officers  because  women  could  not  be  induced  to  serve. 
But,  with  divergence  in  method,  all  the  societies  have 


ORGANIZED    MISSIONARY   WORK. 


97 


the  same  aim :  looking  abroad,  to  carry  the  gospel 
where,  without  women,  it  cannot  be  efficiently  carried ; 
looking  homeward,  to  give  every  woman  in  every  par- 
ish a  chance  to  share  in  the  evangelization  of  the  world. 
In  nearly  every  society  a  membership  fee  is  required, 
and.  in  all,  labor  and  responsibility  are  diffused  down 
from  officers  of  the  Board  through  smaller  organiza- 
tions called  "  Branches,"  "  Presbyterial  Societies,"  etc., 
to  the  local  "  Parish  "  or  "  Auxiliary  "  society.  All  of 
them  hold  meetings  to  transact  business,  for  their  own 
spiritual  good,  to  pray  for  missions,  and  to  spread  in- 
formation upon  the  subject.  All  avail  themselves  of 
the  printing  press  and  annually  scatter  broadcast 
"  Like  leaves  of  the  forest  when  summer  is  green," 
millions  of  pages  in  reports,  mission  lessons,  calendars 
of  prayer,  leaflets,  newspaper  columns  and  magazines 
for  young  and  old.  Of  the  latter,  the  three  largest, 
"  Woman's  Work  for  Woman,"  "  The  Heathen  Wo- 
man's Friend,"  and  "The  Helping  Hand,"  have  re- 
spectively 18,000,  21,000,  and  23,000  subscribers.  All 
these  societies  undertake  to  train  the  children  to  mis- 
sionary service,  and  the  talent  and  ingenuity  expended 
in  providing  programmes  for  their  meetings,  opening 
channels  for  their  self-denial  and  encouraging  their 
zeal,  and  the  soHd  results  of  this  outiay,  constitute  an 
important  chapter  in  the  history  of  missionary  effort. 
Through  one  children's  paper  $8,000  were  raised  last 
year  for  a  Chinese  Home.  The  Treasuiy  of  one  Board 
receives  about  $40,000  annually  from  children  and 
young  people. 

Last  year  these  33  societies  combined  were  rep- 
resented by  1,051   missionaries.      The 

Summaries.  \  r     ^  i 

greater  number  of  them  were  teachers 


98  WOMAN   IN    MISSIONS. 

of  schools,  many  were  engaged  in  evangelistic  work, 
and  65  were  physicians  (this  year  the  number  is  in- 
creased to  70),  graduated  with  full  diplomas.  Almost 
every  society  sends  out  at  least  one  woman  physician 
to  the  field.  The  Seventh  Day  Baptists  have  one;  the 
United  Presbyterians  have  two;  the  United  Brethren  ia 
Christ,  with  an  auxiliary  membership  of  only  7,cxx), 
have  three  physicians ;  the  Congregational  Church  has 
seven ;  the  Baptist  Church  (Northern  Convention)  has 
twelve ;  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Society  (North),  the 
noble  pioneer  in  this  direction,  has  fourteen  ;  and  the 
■  Presbyterian  Church  (North)  with  her  21  skilled  wo- 
men, every  one  at  her  post  (and  two  more  with  pas- 
sage engaged  for  India),  has  at  present  outrun  any 
other  single  society  in  the  world.  In  not  less  than  70 
hospitals  and  dispensaries,  nursing,  medicine  and  sur- 
gery are  administered  by  these  American  women,  with 
a  yearly  result  of  from  5,000  to  25,000  patients  in  each, 
and  incalculable  relief  of  suffering. 

A  total  of  more  than  2,000  schools,  of  which  about 
175  are  boarding,  or  high  schools,  or  colleges  for  girls; 
a  total,  so  far  as  reported,  of  76,000  pupils,  of  1,500 
native  assistants  employed,  represent  Christian  agen- 
cies created  and  sustained  by  the  women's  societies. 
In  addition  to  these  larger  items  they  have  aided  in 
building  and  furnishing  homes  for  missionary  children, 
missionary  residences  and  sanitariums,  orphanages, 
training-schools  for  nurses,  leper  and  other  asylums  ; 
they  have  established  scholarships,  medical  classes  and 
industrial  plants  in  connection  with  schools ;  have 
translated  the  Bible,  school-books,  tracts  and  hymns 
into  foreign  languages,  and  printed  them ;  have  built 
boats  for  African  and  Siamese  rivers  and  South  Pacific 


ORGANIZED   MISSIONARY  WORK.  99 

seas  ;  have  published  Marathi,  Hindustani,  Tamil,  Ja- 
panese, Romanized  Chinese,  and  Mexican  newspapers  ; 
have  met  all  expenses  at  home,  and  in  many  cases  paid 
a  given  per  cent,  of  their  receipts  into  the  treasury  of 
the  Church  Board  for  contingent  expenses  connected 
with  their  own  work.  The  whole  amount  contributed 
for  these  purposes  for  1892-93  was  $1,475,933- 

Take  a  single  illustration  of  how  these  contribu- 
tions have  been  increasing.  In  1870,  as  the  treasurer 
of  a  great  Board  said,  "  there  rolled  into  the  treasury  a 
little  cake  of  barley  bread  labelled,  '  Woman's  Work 
for  Woman,  $7,000."  The  speaker  referred  to  the  first 
contribution  under  the  new  movement  from  Presbyte- 
rian women  of  the  North.  This  year  that  barley  cake 
has  become  a  wheaten  loaf  of  more  than  $300,000. 

It  has  been  estimated  that  the  gift  of  American 
women  to  non-evangelized  countries  since  the  Union 
Society  took  up  its  first  collection  would  not  be  repre- 
sented by  anything  under  thirteen  and  a  half  millions 
of  dollars. 

Modem  movement  The  gencsis  of  this  womau's  mis- 

in  Home  Missions,  sionary  movement  was  foreign  mis- 
sions ;  but  everything  that  has  been  said  relating  to 
expansion  in  that  direction,  the  manner  of  growth,  the 
conduct  of  societies,  the  spirit  called  forth,  applies 
equally  to  home  missions  endeavor.  For,  when  Chris- 
tian women  began  to  save  their  heathen  sisters,  was 
there  a  general  stampede  fi-om  the  churches  to  Asia 
and  Africa  ?     Not  at  all. 

"  The  lights  that  shine  farthest 
Shine  brightest  near  home." 

Just  as  might  be  expected,  when  that  effectual  cry  from 
out  the  darkness  probed  woman's  selfishness  and  broke 


100  WOMAN  IN   MISSIONS. 

up  the  fountains  of  her  heart,  she  was  ready,  as  never 
before,  to  acknowledge  every  claim.  Now  began  more 
intelligent  and  aggressive  effort  in  Home  Missions. 
The  old-fashioned  sewing-society  could  not  answer  the 
requirements  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Now  school- 
houses  must  be  built,  and  parsonages,  and  chapels. 
Methodist  women  hold  property  in  schools  and  Indus- 
trial Homes  in  this  country  to  the  value  of  $225,000. 
The  Presbyterian  Church  (North)  holds  property  in 
buildings  and  real  estate,  from  North  Carolina  to  Alas- 
ka, amounting  to  a  half  million  dollars,  all  of  which  has 
been  created  or  acquired  through  the  Women's  Home 
Missions  Committee  since  1878. 

Now  scholarships  must  be  established  and  teachers 
sent  forth  and  maintained  in  flocks  to  the  colored  peo- 
ple of  the  South,  on  an  enlarged  scale  to  the  Indian,  to 
the  congested  centres  of  foreign  immigrants,  to  the  poor 
whites  and  the  Chinese.  The  Congregational  Church 
has  sent  three  thousand  women  to  teach  the  Freedmen 
since  the  war.  It  has  two  hundred  men  in  the  United 
States  preaching  the  gospel  in  foreign  languages,  who 
are  mainly  supported  by  the  women's  societies.  While 
the  times  demand  statesmanship  to  handle  "  frontier 
work,"  "Indian  rights,"  "the  foreign  problem,"  "the 
Southern  problem,"  "  the  Mormon  problem,"  the  wo- 
men are  steadily  helping  to  solve  these  problems. 
With  "Our  land  for  Christ"  as  their  watchword,  and 
"  America  must  be  saved  by  Americans  "  inscribed  on 
their  banners,  they  have  gone  into  Utah  resolving  that 
"  every  foot  of  the  350,000  square  miles  covered  by  the 
Mormon  Church "  shall  be" "redeemed  to  Christ."  In 
about  fifty  separate  towns  in  Utah  they  have  planted 
their  common  schools.     The  teacher,  always  a  woman, 


ORGANIZED   MISSIONARY  WORK.  lOl 

often  the  only  Christian  in  the  place,  fills  the  office  of 
pastor,  teacher  and  superintendent,  if  not  doctor,  un- 
dertaker and  dressmaker  also. 

Where  is  that  banner  not  flying:? 

Where  and  What.    _,        .  .  .     .  /      & 

The  Itinerant  missionary  woman  has 
been  introduced,  a  reclaiming  force,  among  the  deserted 
farms  of  New  Hampshire.  The  evening  lamp  of  the 
missionary's  home  shines  across  the  Florida  swamp, 
and  up  on  the  farthest  parallel  towards  the  pole  stands 
the  royal  gift  of  a  woman's  hand,  a  school  for  Alaskan 
children.  Not  only  the  ordinary  field  of  former  years 
must  be  worked,  but  extraordinary  situations  must  be 
opened  up  to  gospel  light  and  atmosphere.  Sunday- 
schools  must  be  planted  in  clefts  of  the  mountains  and 
among  the  scattered  sheep  in  the  sage  brush.  Chris- 
tian investments  must  follow  the  trail  of  booming  towns. 
The  missionary  must  be  on  hand  with  his  sermon  the 
first  Sunday  after  Oklahoma  is  entered.  His  wife  is 
there  too,  and  it  is  not  long  before  she  is  leader  of  a 
boys'  dub  who  are  put  upon  their  honor  to  neither 
swear  nor  use  tobacco  in  her  presence.  The  women 
organize  their  "  paper  mission,"  and  send  millions  of 
newspapers  and  pictures  where  they  cannot  penetrate 
themselves — to  lighthouses,  prisons,  the  military  post, 
the  lumberman's  camp,  the  dug-out,  and  the  prairie 
schooner.  People  in  the  far  West  have  gone  fourteen 
miles  this  Columbian  year  to  borrow  old  magazines. 
And  still,  with  all  their  greater  undertakings,  the  wo- 
men continue  to  fill  up  niches  in  mission  needs.  Their 
boxes  continue  to  supplement  meagre  salaries.  Single 
parishes  send  twenty-five  and  thirty  in  a  season.  The 
auxiliaries  of  a  single  society  forward  80,  100,  or  135 
annually.      The  Woman's  Auxiliary  of  the  Episcopal 


102  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

Church  reported  4,255  boxes  sent  to  their  missions  in 
1892.  They  represented  $197,724  in  cash.  Every 
year  bells  must  be  set  ringing  in  new  prairie  churches, 
and  freight  cars  carry  west  and  southward  Sunday- 
school  libraries  and  chapel  organs.  Here  goes  a  horse, 
there  a  saddle  or  a  tent.  Women  of  the  Reformed 
(Dutch)  Church  sent  seven  communion  sets  to  feeble 
churches  last  year.  Monuments  to  the  dead  are  dis- 
placed by  memorials  which  bless  the  living.  Indus- 
trial departments  are  established  at  great  outlay  in 
schools  for  boys  and  girls.  Every  facility  which  the 
mind  can  devise,  from  a  bath  to  a  hundred-thousand- 
dollar  building,  if  it  will  promote  true  citizenship  and 
Christianity  in  our  country,  is  laid  claim  to  by  Home 
Missions.  One  of  the  mottoes  of  this  patriotic  army  is, 
"  The  foreigner  must  be  Americanized,"  and  that  calls 
for  the  Training-school,  where  workers  are  practised 
both  in  the  English  tongue  and  in  whatever  speech  is 
native  to  the  foreigner's  transatlantic  home.  Such  a 
school  is  that  of  the  Baptist  Society  in  Chicago,  where 
young  women  of  ten  races  are  in  training  to  teach,  each 
in  her  own  tongue.  In  Springfield,  Mass.,  is  an  insti- 
tution, conducted  in  the  French  Ian- 
How  and  Whom.  ,  ,, 

guage,  where  young  women  as  well  as 

men  are  trained  for  gospel  work  among  that  great 
deposit  of  French  Canadians  which  has  lately  been  pre- 
cipitated into  New  England.  Other  training-schools, 
on  an  English  basis  only,  are  well  known.  The  Meth- 
odist (Episcopal)  women  of  the  South  opened  one  at  a 
cost  of  $75,000  in  1892.  The  Methodist  women  in  the 
North  have  erected  eleven  Deaconess'  Homes  in  as 
many  cities,  as  centres  of  work. 

Every  class  must  be  sought  out  and  benefited. 


ORGANIZED    MISSIONARY   WORK.  IO3 

The  emigrant  girl  must  be  met  on  the  wharf  when  she 
lands.  The  good  Samaritan  must  pour  oil  into  the 
wounds  of  the  Alaskan  girl  fallen  among  thieves.  The 
Huguenot  blood  and  the  Covenanter  blood  in  the 
mountains  of  Kentucky,  Tennessee  and  North  Caro- 
lina must  be  searched  out  and  put  to  school.  There 
must  be  Sunday-schools  for  the  cowboys,  with  first- 
class  organ  playing,  and  the  Jews — even  the  Jews — 
must  not  be  overlooked  any  longer.  One  woman, 
single-handed,  carries  on  a  struggling  school  of  Spanish 
children  in  New  York  city  for  years,  till  friends  come 
to  its  rescue,  and  now  there  is  a  church  of  fifty-six  mem- 
bers, the  pastor  reporting  them  as  "  fifty-six  facts 
among  a  community  of  Spaniards  large  enough  for  five 
Madrids."  Similar  efforts  are  put  forth  for  Italian  la- 
borers along  the  beds  of  great  railway  lines  and  for 
Slovack  miners  in  Pennsylvania,  and  if  anybody  is 
generally  left  out  he  is  specially  gathered  in  under  the 
term  "  neglected  populations,"  which  is  one  of  the  very 
shibboleths  of  Home  Mission  speech  in  our  day. 

Women  undertook,  at  the  outset,  both  Home  and 
Foreign  Missions  in  several  branches  of  the  church ; 
in  others  the  old  method  of  aiding  Home  Missions,  al- 
ready doing  good  service,  was  slower  to  give  place  to 
the  modern  society.  Organization  in  the  interests  of 
Home  Missions  occurred  as  follows : 

Baptist  Church  (North)  in... 1876 

Baptist  Church  (South) iS8S 

Baptist  Free  Church 1873 

Baptist  Seventh-Day  Church.. 1885 

Date  of  Home     Christian  Church 1S90 

Missions  Societies     Congregational  Church  State  Unions.  1883 
in  the  Churches.         t^   •            ,   ^1         ,  „ 

Episcopal  Church 1871 

German  Church  (Evangelical   Association) 1884 


104  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

Lutheran   Church 1879 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church  (North) 1680 

Methodist  (Episcopal)   Church,  South 1878 

Methodist  Protestant 1893 

Presbyterian   Church  (Northl — ...1878 

Presbyterian  Church  (Cumberland) i88o 

Presbyterian  (United)    Church 1883 

Reformed  (Dutch)  Church 1875 

United  Brethren  in  Christ. —  1875 

These  societies  are  working  among  forty  tribes  of 
Indians,  and  in  nearly  twenty  European  languages. 
The  five  largest  of  them  are  represented  by  1,084  "mis- 
sionaries and  teachers,  and  the  sum  disbursed  in  1892- 
93  by  all  these  societies,  so  far  as  reported,  was  $1,100,- 
000  in  money,  outside  of  other  gifts. 

But,  it  is  time  to  ask,  with  all  this  outside  demand 
upon  Christian  women  did  the  local  church  die  of  neg- 
lect ?  Were  Bible-classes  vacated  by  teachers,  bed- 
sides deserted  by  nurses?  Was  family  religion  no 
more  cultivated  ?  Carried  away  with  this  enthusiasm 
for  the  black  race,  the  red  race  and  the  yellow,  for  mis- 
sions in  Colorado  and  missions  in  Japan,  did  Dorcas 
and  Tryphosa  now  cease  to  lodge  strangers,  to  wash 
the  saints'  feet,  to  relieve  the  afflicted  ? 

By   no   means.      How   much  was  heard  of  City 

Missions  before  the  foreign  missionary  wave  touched 

^.    ,  .   .  our  shores?     A  priori,   city  missions 

City  Missions.  -^  '  ,       ,         , 

were  first,  for  unless  we  love  the  broth- 
er that  we  have  seen  how  can  we  love  him  that  we 
have  not  seen  ?  But  in  the  order  of  spiritual  sequences 
it  was  after  God  pressed  home  upon  us  the  radical 
truth  that  he  had  made  all  nations  of  one  blood,  and  if 
we  love  him  we  must  love  our  brother  to  the  ends  of 
the  world,  that  the  light  of  city  missions  blazed  out  from 


ORGANIZED   MISSIONARY  WORK.  10$ 

a  more  than  a  seven-branched  candlestick.  Now  be- 
gan the  flower  missions,  fresh-air  funds,  girls'  "  Friend- 
ly's,"  midnight  missions,  King's  Daughters,  boot-black 
brigades,  free  kindergartens,  Young  Women's  Chris- 
tian Associations,  day  nurseries,  night  schools,  socie- 
ties for  protection  against  cruelty  to  childi-en  and 
animals,  and  all  those  speciahzed  forms  of  rescue  work 
which  characterize  our  time,  which  women  always  aid, 
and  often  both  conduct  and  maintain.  It  is  a  matter 
of  frequent  observation  that  the  Bible  was  never  so 
thoroughly  studied  in  our  country  as  it  is  now,  and  to 
this  result  every  earnest  woman  in  every  auxiliary  has 
contributed  her  share,  for  that  earnestness  has  been  fed 
on  the  Word  of  God  and  fanned  by  the  Spirit  of  God. 
Beautiful  is  the  interplay  between  departments  of  this 
work.  It  is  all  so  informed  by  one  aim  and  spirit  that 
it  is  perfectiy  easy  for  the  same  woman  to  have  place  in 
her  heart  for  all  missions  in  their  different  phases. 

An  historical  survey  like  this  may  seem  open  to 
the  charge  of  boastfulness.  God  forbid  that  we  should 
in  anywise  boast.  In  all  things  we  have  come  short. 
Have  any  women  on  earth  received  so  much  from 
God,  do  any  owe  so  much  to  his  dear  Son,  as  we  of 
America  ?  But,  listening  to  summaries,  we  are  apt  to  be 
Proportion  of  Wo  deceived.  Totals  sound  large.  When 
men  Enlisted.  ^^  come  to  placc  facts  in  right  propor- 
tion we  are  disillusionized.  In  what  proportion  are  the 
women  of  our  churches  represented  in  these  efforts  ? 

"  One-fourth  of  our  half  a  million  women,"  say 
Methodists  of  the  north  ;  '"'  eighteen  per  cent,  of  adult 
women  in  yearly  meetings,"  say  the  Friends ;  "  460 
auxiliaries  out  of  1,450  congregation — what  of  the 
other  1,000  congregations  ?"  say  tlie  Lutherans ;  "  con- 


I06  WOMAN  IN  MISSIONS. 

tributions  from  a  little  more  than  half  our  parishes," 
say  Episcopalians;  "foreign  missionary  auxiliaries  in 
two-thirds  of  our  churches,"  say  Presbyterians  in  Penn- 
sylvania ;  "  not  more  than  one-sixth  of  our  church 
members  in  any  missionary  work,"  say  Presbyterians 
of  Oregon ;  "  one-eighth  of  our  cHurch  members  in 
twenty-two  states  enrolled  in  Home  Missionary  Socie- 
ty," say  Baptists  of  the  North ;  "  one-sixth  of  our 
church  women  in  foreign  missionary  membership,"  say 
Congregationalists  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard;  "less 
than  one-sixth,"  they  say  about  Chicago;  "five  hun- 
dred dead  societies,"  reports  one  Board.  But  just 
because  this  muster  of  his  handmaidens  has  been  so 
reluctant  and  incomplete  the  name  of  the  Lord  Is  the 
more  magnified  in  results  achieved.  In  view  of  so 
much  accomplished  by  such  weak  agencies  we  can 
only  look  up,  and  wonder,  and  adore.  What  blessing 
God  could  pour  out,  and  what  the  victory  would  be,  if 
instead  of  this  fraction  from  our  churches  every  woman 
in  them  would  add  the  weight  of  her  warmihearted  de- 
votion to  missionary  service,  can  scarcely  be  con- 
ceived. 

Thus  far  this  history  has  restricted  itself  to  a  re- 
view of  Efforts ;  but,  in  closing,  we  cannot  restrain  one 
swift  glance  at  Results. 

In  our  own  country  they  are  apparent.  The  record 
of  them  is  not  confined  to  missionary 

RcsuHs 

magazines  •  it  is  in  all  the  newspapers. 
The  missionary  woman  labors  under  limitations  in  Ori- 
ental countries,  and,  especially  if  unmarried,  must  often 
endure  to  have  her  motives  and  conduct  rest  under  the 
suspicions  of  degraded  minds.  But  her  peculiar  arena 
is  our  dear  land,  where,  even  in  rudest  communities,  the 


ORGANIZED    MISSIONARY   WORK.  I07 

air  breathes  of  chivalry  towards  motherhood  and  wo- 
manhood. The  sun  in  its  course  looks  down  on  no 
spot  of  earth  where  the  opinions  of  good  women  and 
the  resolute  actions  of  good  women  have  so  much  in- 
fluence on  the  public  mind  and  public  weal.  Were  all 
their  active  and  aggressive  part  in  philanthropic  work 
to  be  suppressed  to-day,  not  only  would  every  Home 
Missionary  Society  be  in  despair  but  protest  would 
arise  from  worldly  men.  It  is  more  difficult  to  point 
to  what  is  distinctively  the  fruit  of  woman's  work  in 
missions  at  home  than  abroad  because  the  peculiar 
barriers  of  the  East  are  wanting  here.  Nowhere  in  our 
country  is  the  ordained  man  prohibited  from  carrying 
the  gospel  into  the  home  or  pressing  the  claims  of 
religion  upon  any  individual.  And  yet  that  young 
colored  woman  at  Augusta,  Georgia,  in  charge  of  a 
school  having  eight  assistant  teachers  and  four  hundred 
pupils ;  the  Omaha  Indian  girl  regularly  graduated  as 
Specimen  Results  ^  physiciau  and  practising  among  her 
in  the  United  States,  people ;  the  Dakota  women's  mission- 
ary societies  and  their  notable  offerings ;  the  rescued 
Chinese  slave-girl  assisting,  in  the  English  language,  at 
a  corner-stone  laying  in  San  Francisco  last  July ;  twenty 
churches  of  converted  Mormons  born  out  of  women's 
schools — these  are  specimen  fruits  of  what  is  not  likely 
to  be  brought  to  perfection  without  a  woman's  hand. 

But  what  of  those  farther  shores  ?  Have  the  toils 
of  all  these  societies  at  home  and  the  sacrifices  of  our 
countrywomen  been  also  blessed  in  the  Turkish  Em- 
pire, in  Persia,  India,  Siam,  China,  Japan,  Korea, 
Africa,  and  the  islands  of  the  sea  ?  There,  results  are 
farther  out  of  sight  than  results  at  home ;  we  must  draw 
nearer  to  them.      Yes,  God  has  answered  us  with  his 


I08  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

seal  of  approval.  It  is  imprinted  on  the  personal  trans- 
formation from  wild,  unruly  beings,  such  as  met  the 
first  missionaries  in  Persia,  to  those  dignified  ladies 
who  now  conduct  Quarterly  Meetings  on  Oroomiah 
Plain  and  furnish  columns  to  the  mission  paper.  Travel- 
lers in  Syria  and  Egypt  tell  us  they  are  often  able,  by 
their  faces,  to  select,  out  of  a  casual  company  whom 
they  see,  those  women  who  have  attended  mission 
schools.  A  visitor  in  Mexico  could  scarce  believe  that 
the  thoughtful-faced  women  in  the  mission  congregation 
were  of  the  same  class  as  those  she  met  on  the  plaza. 
Let  a  European  light  down  upon  any  village  in  Asia 
Minor,  or  the  Chinese  Empire,  and  the  tidiest  house 
General  Results  there,  with  the  cleanest  tablecloth  and 
Abroad.  the  most  inviting  bed,  is  the  home 
of  a  mission-school  graduate.  The  transformation 
appears  in  the  deaths  they  die ;  like  the  old  Siamese 
woman,  a  few  months  ago,  whispering  "  My  Sa- 
viour "  with  her  last  breath ;  like  the  young  wife 
on  the  Ogowe  River,  Africa,  when  heart  and  flesh 
failed,  still  resisting  the  witch  doctor  and  charging 
her  husband  to  be  "  faithful  to  God."  These  women 
are  transformed  by  happiness.  Christianity  encourages 
them,  wakes  their  intellect,  kindles  aspiration,  as  well 
as  offers  peace.  Where  for  thousands  of  years  they 
have  said,  "  We  are  donkeys,"  a  corps  of  intelligent 
teachers  and  evangelists  are  now  raised  up. 

As  women  rise  they  bring  the  home  up  with  them. 
A  missionary  of  long  experience  points  to  the  "  new 
affection  and  respect  shown  by  husband  and  children 
towards  Christian  wives  and  mothers,  because  their 
religion  has  made  them  worthy  of  respect  and  affection 
which  as  heathen  women  they  did  not  merit." 


ORGANIZED  MISSIONARY   WORK.  IO9 

Without  this  woman's  work  for  woman,  touching 
life  at  so  many  and  such  sensitive  points,  some  missions 
would  have  been  a  failure.  The  American  mother  and 
her  babe  have  bridged  the  chasm  between  the  dreaded 
foreigner  and  the  Korean  mother's  heart.  Church 
membership,  which  formerly  preponderated  entirely 
in  favor  of  men,  has  in  some  older  missions  approached 
nearly  to  equalization.  Among  their  trophies  are  wo- 
men who  have  borne  persecution,  made  harder  by  their 
traditions  for  them  than  for  men ;  and  those  who  zeal- 
ously prosecute  home  missions,  as  among  Gilbert  Island 
women,  and  the  Japanese  who  have  been  known  to 
sell  their  dresses  for  the  cause.  They  have  their  for- 
eign missionary  heroines  also,  like  Yona,  the  Harriet 
Newell  of  Zululand. 

Look  at  woman's  work  for  woman  in  Japan: 
prayer  unions  holding  their  annual  meeting,  attended 
by  delegates  from  different  cities,  whose  traveling  ex- 
penses were  paid  by  women  of  their  respective  church- 
es ;  a  Japanese  girl  leaving  a  legacy  of  $65  to  the 
school  where  she  became  a  Christian ;  Bible  women  in 
demand  beyond  the  supply,  and  the  Japanese  churches 
paying  a  part  or  all  of  their  salary ;  a  boys'  school 
begging  for  an  American  woman  to  teach  them.  "  Such 
deep  Christian  experience  that,"  as  an  Osaka  mission- 
ary writes,  "  it  seems  impossible  that  they  grew  to 
womanhood  in  ignorance  of  Christ." 

Look  at  woman's  work  for  women  in  India.  It 
has  found  out  the  class  resting  under  the  heaviest 
curse,  the  widow,  and  lifted  her  to  a  place  of  honor. 
While  Christian  girls  have  been  passing  entrance  ex- 
aminations to  the  University  for  twenty  years,  the  first 
Mohammedan  girl  has  matriculated  this  year.    "  Chris- 


no  WOMAN   IN    MISSIONS. 

tian  women,"  Miss  Thoburn  says,  "  are  much  more 
prominent  and  important  than  Christian  men.  If  they 
live  in  a  village  they  are  the  only  women  there  who  can 
read  and  write.  No  others  go  to  a  place  of  worship 
with  men.  Their  daughters  go  away  to  boarding- 
school  and  return  to  be  consulted  by  their  own  fathers. 
When  the  Dufferin  medical  schools  called  for  students 
three-fourths  of  those  who  came  forward  were  Chris- 
tian girls."  Even  indirect  results  begin  to  show  them- 
selves on  the  far  horizon.  The  purdah  is  drawn  aside 
for  2ifUe  day  at  the  Exposition  in  Calcutta.  A  class  of 
barbarous  midwives  study  anatomy  with  a  Philadelphia 
graduate.  An  appeal  against  child-marriage  is  sent  to 
the  English  Parliament.  Brahmo  Somaj  women  gather 
together  into  a  prayer-meeting  at  Lahore.  "  It  is  your 
women  and  doctors  that  we  are  afraid  of,"  say  the 
men  of  India. 

In  Persia,  the  respectful  term  Kkanum  (Lady)  is 
frequently  applied  to  Christians  by  Persian  men,  but  to 
Mohammedan  women  never.  A  priest  asked  a  mis- 
sionary lady  to  offer  prayer  beside  him  at  the  burial  of 
a  child.  When  the  American  Mission  was  opened 
only  two  women  in  the  whole  country  could  read.  At 
their  Jubilee  in  1885  the  question  was  put,  "  How  many 
present  can  read?"  and  six  hundred  women  rose  to 
their  feet. 

Look  at  woman's  work  for  women  in  China.  A 
Canton  girl,  imitating  her  college  sisters  in  England 
and  America,  takes  the  prize  for  Bible  examination 
over  the  heads  of  all  the  competing  pastors.  Up  in 
Shantung  several  women,  without  preacher,  teacher  or 
sexton,  have  maintained  a  house  of  worship  and  Sun- 
day service  in  their  community  for  a  period  of  years. 


ORGANIZED   MISSIONARY   WORK.  Ill 

"  Direct  work  for  women,"  says  a  cautious  missionary 
in  that  province,  "  has  contributed  fully  one-half  to  the 
improved  sentiment  towards  foreigners."  "  It  conveys 
the  idea  that  they  amount  to  something,"  says  another, 
"  sadly  needed  for  those  so  near  the  vanishing  point  in 
social  life.  It  is  necessary  to  the  stability  of  the  family  : 
when  men  become  Christians  and  women  adhere  to 
heathenism  husband  and  wife  are  at  cross-purposes, 
and  after  a  year  or  two  of  contest  the  husband  surren- 
ders. The  family  can  be  won  in  no  other  way.  There 
is  a  kind  of  fascination  about  the  missionary  lady ; 
these  heathen  women  fairly  run  and  troop  around  her, 
and  when  they  are  won  the  family  becomes  a  fixed  in- 
stitution in  the  church.  I  am  of  the  opinion,"  continues 
our  missionary  from  North  China,  "  that  for  permanent 
hold  of  Christianity  upon  the  people,  work  among  wo- 
men is  more  important  than  among  men.  The  request 
comes  from  all  our  stations,  '  Send  us  more  ladies.'  " 

Encouraged  by  such  evidences  as  these,  incited  by 
gratitude  and  the  promise  of  God's  Word,  and  sus- 
tained by  the  Spirit  of  God,  the  woman's  missionary 
societies  propose  to  tarry  not  nor  falter,  but  to  hand  on 
their  work  to  children  and  children's  children,  enjoin- 
ing upon  them  to  save  America,  to  save  the  world,  and 
to  be  found  so  doins:  when  our  Lord  shall  come. 


112  WOMAN  IN   MISSIONS. 


ZEN  A  NA ,  BIBLE  A  ND  MEDIC  A  L  MISSIONS. 

BY    LORD   KINNAIRD. 

"  When  I  am  gone,"  said  the  late  Lady  Kinnaird, 
"  you  will  find  '  India  '  engraven  on  my  heart."  This 
was  no  expression  of  merely  sentimental  interest  in  a 
romantic  enterprise.  Lady  Kinnaird  worked  and 
prayed  and  pleaded  for  India  as  few  other  women 
have  done,  and  as  the  result  of  her  interest  in  that 
mighty  empires  he  founded  the  Zenana,  Bible  and  Med- 
ical Mission,  of  which  the  good  Earl  of  Shaftesbury 
did  not  hesitate  to  say  that  it  was  "  one  of  the  best 
missions  calculated  for  th?  purpose  it  has  in  view,  ever 
conceived."  The  Earl  always  felt  that  India  had  a 
special  claim  on  English  Christians.  We  too  often 
forget  that  the  women  of  India  are  not  only  our  sisters 
but  our  fellow-subjects,  and  that  while  the  total  popula- 
tion of  India  is  287  millions,  the  number  of  Protestant 
Christians  does  not  exceed  three-quarters  of  a  million. 
Is  not  this  fact  a  trumpet-call  to  every  true  Christian 
heart  ?  Is  it  not  a  reproach  for  duty  left  undone  in 
the  past,  and  a  call  to  earnest  and  definite  effort  in  the 
future  ? 

There  are  139  millions  of  women  an  !  girls  in 
India.  Forty  millions  of  them  are  shut  up  in  Zenanas ; 
they  are  subjects  of  the  Empress  Queen  whom  we 
loyally  serve,  and  yet  how  often  do  we  give  a  thought 
to  their  moral  welfare  and  spiritual  enlightenment  ? 
"  What  is  a  Zenana?"  said  a  gentleman  one  day.     "  I 


ZENANA   AND    MEDICAL   MISSIONS.  II 3 

looked  all  over  my  atlas  for  such  a  place,  and  could  n't 
find  it  anywhere ;  but  this  may  be  because  my  copy  is 
an  old  one."  Another  interested  inquirer  said  he  had 
searched  in  vain  for  the  Bishop  of  Zenana,  but  could 
find  no  diocese  bearing  the  name. 

But  what  is  a  Zenana  ?  Briefly,  it  is  that  portion 
of  an  Indian  gentleman's  house  set  apart  for  the  wo- 
men. The  imagination  is  apt  to  invest  such  a  place 
with  the  gorgeous  surroundings  which  are  usually  as- 
sociated with  Indian  wealth  and  rank.  But  the  reality 
is  in  most  cases  dull  and  prosaic  in  the  extreme.  Instead 
of  a  mansion,  think  of  a  mud  building,  bare  and  uninvit- 
ing, probably  the  darkest  and  dirtiest  part  of  the 
establishment.  Do  not  imagine  that  the  inmates  are 
attired  with  oriental  magnificence.  They  are  poorly 
and  plainly  clad ;  they  sit  on  the  floor,  and  therefore 
but  little  furniture  is  needed,  and  the  whole  place  is 
more  suggestive  of  the  hopeless  seclusion  of  the  prison 
than  the  social  sunshine  of  the  home.  And  in  these 
dens  forty  millions  of  the  women  of  India  are  kept ! 
They  have  none  of  the  joys  of  family  life,  for  the  wo- 
men never  gather  with  husband  and  children.  They 
are  practically  excluded  from  intercourse  with  the  male 
portion  of  the  household,  and  never  do  they  hear  the 
ringing  laugh  of  happy  childhood.  "  Doomed  to  an 
enforced  inferiority,"  says  one  writer,  referring  to  wo- 
man in  the  zenana,  "  her  life  is  without  an  inspiring 
purpose,  and,  as  a  consequence,  it  sinks  to  a  drud- 
gery worse  than  the  treadmill."  Woe  betide  the 
women  when  they  become  sick  !  Then,  of  all  times, 
we  should  expect  a  little  kindly  attention  to  be  shown 
them.  But  the  sufferers  are  relegated  to  some  damp 
chamber,  where  they  are  left  alone  to  die,  often  with- 
S 


114  WOMAN  IN  MISSIONS. 

out  any  tender  ministries  of  loving  hands  to  soothe 
and  comfort  their  last  hours. 

Is  not  the  dull  and  cheerless  existence  of  such 
women  a  living  death  ?  First,  they  are  severed  from 
all  social  life;  then  the  intellectual  life  is  cut  off,  for 
books  are  almost  unknown  and  the  cultivation  of  any 
talent  is  never  attempted.  "  Education  is  good,"  says 
the  Hindoo,  "just  as  milk  is  good  ;  but  milk  given  to 
a  snake  becomes  venom  :  so  education  to  a  woman  be- 
comes poison."  And  this  pernicious  logic  is  relent- 
lessly put  into  practice,  with  the  result  that  the  life  of 
an  Indian  woman,  unless  she  becomes  a  wife  and  the 
mother  of  a  son — for  a  daughter  is  regarded  as  a 
curse — is  nothing  but  a  sad  and  sunless  pilgrimage 
from  an  unhappy  cradle  to  an  unregretted  grave. 

As  for  the  religious  life,  with  sorrow  it  must  be 
admitted  that  our  unhappy  sisters  sit  in  darkness  and 
in  the  shadow  of  death.  In  gloom  and  despair  they 
pray  to  their  idols,  and  so  terrible  are  some  of  their 
deities  that  children  scream  when  they  see  the  awful 
monsters.  There  is  no  sweet  hour  of  family  prayer, 
no  tender  petition  whispered  to  "Our  Father"  in 
heaven,  none  of  the  cheering  promises  and  inspiring 
thoughts  of  the  Christian  rehgion.  Surely  the  drean,- 
picture  is  an  irresistible  plea  for  the  sympathy  and  help 
of  Christian  England ! 

But  there  is  a  worse  tale  yet  to  be  told — the  sad 
story  of  the  Hindoo  widow.  We  naturally  have  a  deep 
regard  for  the  widow;  her  forlorn  position,  her  sorrow 
and  loneliness,  excite  our  tenderest  emotions.  In  India 
this  is  entirely  reversed,  and  the  poor  widows  are  re- 
garded as  being  cursed  by  God.  How  England  would 
ring  out  with  a  cry  of  righteous  indignation  if    one 


ZENANA   AND    MEDICAL   MISSIONS.  II S 

who  had  been  a  faithful  wife  were  confined  in  a  prison, 
and  exposed  to  every  kind  of  abuse  and  indignity, 
simply  because  she  was  a  widow !  But  in  India,  not 
one  widow,  but  millions  are  so  treated;  and  it  is  no 
exaggeration  to  say  that  in  many  cases  their  lot  Is  far 
worse  than  that  of  a  criminal  in  an  English  jail.  Di- 
rectly a  woman  becomes  a  widow  she  is  degraded  to 
the  lowest  drudgery  of  the  household ;  she  must  eat 
but  one  meal  a  day,  and  that  only  a  dish  of  rice;  twice 
a  month  she  must  fast  for  twenty-four  hours,  and  her 
bed  is  on  the  floor.  We  must  remember,  also,  that 
these  poor  prisoners  are  frequentiy  mere  children ;  that 
is  the  most  terrible  part  of  it.  An  aged  man  may 
have  a  child-wife.  "  I  can  never  remember,"  said  a 
little  girl,  "  the  time  when  I  was  not  a  widow."  Ac- 
cording to  the  census  of  1891,  out  of  the  vast  number 
of  widows  under  fifteen  years  of  age  (51  to  every 
10,000  of  the  whole  population),  33  per  cent  are 
widows  under  five  years  of  age  ! 

These  facts  are  harrowing  and  unpleasant,  but 
they  ought  to  be  more  widely  known.  The  govern- 
ment does  but  little  to  ameliorate  the  sufferings  of  our 
sisters.  A  male  missionary  is  never  allowed  to  enter 
a  zenana.  Consequently  there  is  but  one  thing  to  be 
done  :  godly,  gifted  women,  filled  with  the  spirit  of 
Christ  and  the  "enthusiasm  of  humanity,"  must  go 
forth  to  minister  to  these  sick  and  sorrowing  ones,  and 
by  the  light  of  the  gospel  transform  the  black  night 
of  oppression  and  suffering  into  the  glad  morning  of 
freedom  and  happiness. 

Of  the  blessing  which  God  has  bestowed  on  the 
work,  and  the  way  in  which  difficulties,  once  apparendy 
insuperable,  have  been  rolled  away,   I  have  not  space 


Il6  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

to  write.  But  this  fact  must  be  recorded — that  the 
work  is  limited  not  so  much  by  lack  of  opportunities 
as  by  lack  of  workers  and  means.  Great  good  has 
been  done  by  the  native  Bible- woman.  As  a  native 
she  can  gain  ready  access  to  the  family  ;  her  books 
and  tracts  are  accepted ;  presently  the  word  of  God  is 
introduced,  read,  and  explained ;  questions  are  asked, 
interest  is  excited,  and  the  hearts  of  many  of  India's 
women  open,  like  Lydia's,  to  receive  the  word.  Then 
the  hospitals  and  jails  are  visited,  and  everywhere 
eager  listeners  are  found. 

There  is  also  the  valuable  influence  "of  the  nor- 
mal and  day  schools  at  work.  The  1891  census  returns 
have  tabulated  the  statistics  as  to  I28i  millions  out  of 
the  total  number  of  139  millions  of  women,  and  of  these 
(i28i  millions)  99.4  are  unable  to  read  or  write,  and  are 
not  even  learning  to  do  so.  In  our  schools  the  teach- 
ers are  not  content  with  imparting  secular  knowledge, 
they  strive  to  win  their  pupils  to  Christ.  This  is  one  of 
the  most  hopeful  features  of  the  work ;  for  if  India  is  to 
become  Christian  it  must  be  very  largely  through  na- 
tive agencies.  And  the  young  people  who  go  forth 
from  these  schools — their  memories  stored  with  gospel 
truth — will  naturally  be  missionaries  among  their  own 
people. 

Many  a  zenana,  however,  would  remain  for  ever 
closed,  even  against  the  lady  missionary,  if  it  were  not 
for  the  medical  mission.  All  honor  to  the  Christian 
lady  doctors  who  take  to  the  women  of  India  not  only 
medicine  for  the  body  but  good  news  of  the  Great 
Physician  who  alone  can  cure  the  sin-sick  soul.  That 
their  work  is  supremely  necessary  is  proved  by  the 
fact  that  a  medical  man  is  seldom  admitted  to  a  zenana. 


ZENANA  AND   MEDICAL   MISSIONS.  11/ 

On  one  occasion  when  a  doctor  asked  to  feel  the  pulse 
of  a  lady  patient  he  was  refused,  but  the  suggestion 
was  made  that  he  should  feel  the  pulse  of  one  of  the 
servants  instead.  In  another  instance  the  tongue  of  a 
lady  had  to  be  examined  through  an  opening  in  a  cur- 
tain. But  when  no  one  else  can  gain  access  the  lady 
missionaries  are  freely  admitted,  and  much  good  work 
is  quietly  and  unostentatiously  accomplished. 

It  is  interesting  to  know  that  the  queen  herself  is 
deeply  interested  in  the  welfare  of  her  Indian  subjects. 
"  You  are  going  to  England,"  said  the  Maharanee  of 
Punnah  to  one  of  the  lady  agents  of  the  Zenana  Mis- 
sion, "  and  I  want  you  to  tell  our  queen,  and  the  men 
and  women  in  England,  what  we  women  in  the  zenanas 
in  India  suffer  when  we  are  sick."  This  touching  mes- 
sage in  due  time  reached  the  ears  of  our  most  gracious 
sovereign,  and  she  remarked  to  her  lady-in-waiting, 
"  I  had  no  idea  it  was  as  bad  as  this  :  something  must 
be  done  for  these  poor  creatures  ;"  adding,  "  I  wish  it  to 
be  generally  known  that  I  sympathize  with  every  effort 
made  to  relieve  the  suffering  state  of  the  women  of 
India." 

"  Something  must  be  done."  That  is  the  verdict  of 
the  queen,  and  it  must  also  be  the  obvious  conclusion 
of  every  woman  who  has  a  heart  to  sympathize  with 
her  oppressed  and  suffering  sisters.  Thank  God, 
something  is  being  done.  The  Zenana,  Bible  and  Med- 
ical Mission  has  73  European  missionaries  and  assist- 
ants, 54  Bible-women,  and  149  native  Christian  teach- 
ers and  nurses.  It  sustains  67  schools  with  2,554  P^- 
pils,  and  three  normal  schools  with  115  students  train- 
ing for  mission  work.  Its  hospitals  and  dispensaries  at 
Lucknow,  Benares  and  Patna  are  fully  appreciated ;  in 


Il8  WOMAN    IN   MISSIONS. 

1892,  for  instance,  there  were  10,500  patients,  with  32, 
500  attendances.  But  think  how  utterly  inadequate 
this  is  among-  139  milHons  of  women  and  girls.  Lon- 
don, with  a  population  of  only  four  millions,  has  far 
more  Christian  workers  than  the  whole  of  India.  The 
situation  is  so  serious  and  the  need  so  urgent  that  it  is 
time  some  of  us  began  to  practise  a  little  self-sacrifice 
in  order  to  render  prompt  and  liberal  help.  Such  an 
effort  may  involve  some  trifling  inconvenience,  but  it  will 
bring  an  unfailing  reward  of  genuine  pleasure. 

The  Queen  of  Sweden  sold  her  diamonds  to  help 
in  building  a  hospital  for  the  poor,  and  while  visiting 
the  patients  one  day  the  tears  of  a  poor  woman  fell 
upon  her  hands ;  as  she  looked  at  them  she  realized 
that  God  had  given  her,  in  those  tears  of  gratitude, 
diamonds  more  precious  than  those  she  had  parted 
with.  Thousands  of  people  are  longing  for  happiness, 
and  are  busily  engaged  in  pursuing  the  phantom  of 
pleasure.  Let  them  now  enjoy  the  unspeakable  luxury 
of  doing  good.  No  field  of  labor  can  be  more  suitable 
for  Christian  ladies  than  the  alleviation  of  the  sufferings 
of  the  women  of  India.  The  mothers  of  our  land 
would  do  well  to  make  this  their  special  care.  They 
know  the  blessings  of  home  life  in  their  own  free,  edu- 
cated, happy  country.  Let  them  never  rest  until  their 
sisters,  who  pine  and  sigh,  with  stunted  intellects  and 
crushed  hearts,  in  the  zenanas  of  India,  are  rejoicing  in 
the  liberty  and  peace  of  Christianity. 


THE   LONDON    MISSIONARY    SOCIETY.         II9 


WOMAN'S  WORK  IN  CONNECTION  WITH 
THE  LONDON  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY. 

BY    CAROLINE   WHYTE. 

To  give  anything  like  a  complete  or  satisfactory 
sketch  of  Woman's  Work  in  connection  with  the  Lon- 
don Missionary  Society  within  the  Hmits  of  time  and 
space  allotted  to  us  would  be  impossible. 

In  two  years'  time  from  this  date  our  Society  will 
be  celebrating  its  centenary,  and  it  is  hardly  too  much 
to  say  that  its  work  among  women  in  heathen  lands 
stretches  also  as  far  back  as  the  beginning  of  this  cen- 
tury— manifestly  too  long  a  history  to  be  condensed 
into  ten  minutes'  time.  It  has  been  truly  said,  "  Zena- 
na missions  were  actually  commenced  and  carried  on 
by  the  first  missionary  who  had  a  wife  of  the  right 
sort,"  and  the  annals  of  our  Society  bear  witness  to  the 
fact  that  in  the  early  half  of  this  century,  as  in  all  the 
days  that  have  followed,  our  missionaries  have  for  the 
most  part  had  at  their  sides  as  fellow-laborers  and  help- 
meets "  wives  of  the  right  sort " — women  who  by  the 
grace  of  God  have  not  only  proved  living  witnesses  of 
the  elevating  and  sanctifying  influences  of  Christianity 
upon  womanhood,  but  who  through  the  establishment 
of  Christian  homes  in  the  midst  of  heathen  surround- 
ings have  afforded  the  best  and  most  powerful  proof  pos- 
sible that  the  sweet  fruits  of  joy,  peace  and  love  can  only 
be  fostered  and  grow  to  perfection  in  homes  where 
Christ  is  acknowledged  as  supreme   Lord  and  Master; 


120  WOMAN  IN  MISSIONS. 

where  woman  is  enshrined  in  her  true  place  as  the 
centre  of  family  influence,  a  centre  from  which  will  be 
radiated  light,  and  self-sacrificing  help  to  all  within 
reach.  It  will  be  sufficient  to  name  only  such  women 
as  Mrs.  Moffat,  Mrs.  Ellis,  Mrs.  Mullens,  Mrs.  Moult, 
Mrs.  Kennedy,  Mrs.  Smith  and  Mrs.  Wardlaw,  as 
types  of  the  noble  womanhood  which  has  labored  with 
devotion  and  self-sacrifice  for  Christ  among  their 
heathen  sisters.  These  were  all  true  pioneers  of  the 
work  which  during  the  last  thirty  years  of  this  century- 
has  been  more  thoroughly  organized,  and  has  so  won- 
derfully developed ! 

Just  in  proportion  to  the  zeal  and  energy  put  forth 
by  the  wives  of  our  earlier  missionaries  did  the  impor- 
tance of  the  work  among  women  in  heathen  homes  be- 
come widened ;  and  it  soon  became  manifest  that  the 
task  of  educating  and  elevating  them,  of  making  known 
to  them  the  knowledge  of  a  Saviour's  love  and  bringing 
them  out  of  the  bondage  of  caste  and  superstition  into 
the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God,  was  a  task 
utterly  beyond  the  limited  powers  of  time  and  strength 
at  the  disposal  of  even  the  most  able  and  willing  among 
missionaries'  wives.  A  special  band  of  helpers  was 
needed  as  their  colleagues,  who  should  be  set  apart  ex- 
pressly for  this  work.  Accordingly,  at  the  8ist  anniver- 
sary meeting  of  our  Society  a  resolution  was  passed  ap- 
pointing fifteen  ladies  "  to  cooperate  with  the  directors  in 
promoting  the  education  and  conversion  of  women  and 
girls  in  heathen  lands."  Since  the  autumn  of  that  year 
(1875)  this  Ladies'  Committee  has  been  steadily  at 
work,  and  although  at  the  close  of  the  first  ten  years 
(i.  e.,  1885)  progress  had  been  slow,  and  they  could  then 
report  only  twenty-seven  ladies  as  having  been  sent  out 


THE   LONDON    MISSIONARY    SOCIETY.         121 

to  the  foreign  mission  field,  yet  substantial  help  had 
been  given  in  the  starting  and  support  of  girls'  schools 
in  India,  China,  and  Madagascar,  and  the  number  of 
native  workers  employed  (z.  e.,  Bible-women,  zenana 
teachers,  school-teachers,  etc.)  was  226,  while  during 
the  ten  years  ^14,000  had  been  specially  collected  for 
and  expended  entirely  on  work  among  women  in  the 
foreign  field. 

During  the  last  eight  years  the  progress  has  been 
much  more  rapid  and  marked.  We  have  to-day  sixty- 
one  ladies  actually  engaged  in  the  work,  and  this  num- 
ber will  be  increased  to  seventy-five  before  the  close  of 
this  year,  making  in  all  more  than  100  (103)  who  have 
been  sent  out  since  1875.  Of  the  twenty-eight  names 
which  no  longer  stand  upon  our  roll,  by  far  the  larger 
number  have  become  the  wives  of  missionaries  ot  our 
own  or  other  Societies  and  are  still  laboring  zealously 
in  the  cause  to  which  they  consecrated  their  lives,  while 
only  three  have  exchanged  the  earthly  for  the  heavenly 
home  during  these  eighteen  years. 

Our  present  actual  band  of  workers  is  distributed 
over  the  field,  which  is  the  world,  in  the  following  pro- 
portions:  31  in  India  (15  in  North  India,  13  in  South 
India,  and  3  in  Travancore),  20  in  China,  6  in  Mada- 
gascar, and  4  in  the  South  Sea  Islands.  There  has 
been  a  proportionate  increase  in  the  number  of  our 
native  female  agents  during  the  past  eight  years  ;  but, 
owing  to  imperfect  returns,  it  is  impossible  to  give  the 
exact  number  now  employed.  Our  girls'  school  now 
numbers  374,  with  some  53,740  scholars.  While  for 
many  years  past  we  have  had  ladies  who,  as  qualified 
nurses,  have  taken  an  active  share  and  help  in  the  work 
of  the  numerous  medical  missions  of  our  Society,  it  was 


122  WOMAN   IN   iMlSSIONS. 

only  last  year  (1892)  that  we  sent  out  our  first  fully 
qualified  lady  doctor  to  take  charge  of  a  women's 
hospital  in  Hankow,  North  China.  This  autumn  she 
will  be  followed  by  the  first  sent  to  India  (Berhampore). 
We  are  happy  to  say,  however,  that  four  more  ladies 
are  now  receiving  training  at  the  London  School  of 
Medicine  for  Women,  and  will,  in  the  course  of  a  year 
or  two,  we  hope,  enter  upon  active  service  abroad  as 
lady  doctors. 

We  cannot  lay  claim  to  any  originality  in  our 
forms  and  methods  of  work,  but  we  can  safely  say  that 
our  agents  have  faithfully  and  efficiently  carried  on  the 
various  branches  of  work  among  women  now  so  famil- 
iar to  all  who  are  interested  in  the  subject :  educational 
work  of  all  kinds,  both  in  schools  and  in  zenanas, 
schools  for  the  children  of  native  Christians,  orphan 
schools  and  village  and  other  day-schools  for  the  chil- 
dren of  the  heathen  population,  house-to-house  visita- 
tion, itinerary  evangelistic  work  in  country  villages, 
nursing  work  in  the  homes  and  in  connection  with  the 
missit>n  hospitals,  gospel  addresses  to  both  the  out- 
patients and  the  in-patients,  the  training  and  superin- 
tending of  Bible-women  and  native  agents,  the  transla- 
tion and  preparation  of  text-books,  magazines,  and 
other  useful  and  suitable  literature  for  converts  and  the 
children  who  have  been  taught  to  read.  These  and 
many  other  forms  of  Christian  work  afford  ample  scope 
for  the  diversities  of  gifts  and  powers  of  our  agents, 
who  again  and  again  prove  their  willing  consecration 
to  the  Master  and  the  work  they  love  by  adapting 
themselves  to  fresh  surroundings  and  new  forms  of  ser- 
vice; and  every  year  and  everywhere  the  work  has 
been  growing  upon  their  hands  and  extending  on  every 


THE   LONDON    xMISSIONARY  SOCIETY.        1 23 

side,  SO  that  the  cry  from  almost  all  parts  of  the  field  is 
"  We  find  it  impossible  to  overtake  it/' 

At  home  the  work  of  the  Committee  has  also  been 
on  similar  lines  to  that  of  sister  societies  :  endeavoring 
to  rouse  a  wider  and  more  intelligent  interest  in  the 
work  abroad  by  means  of  special  literature  (a  quar- 
terly record  of  the  work  and  other  pamphlets),  by  hold- 
ing meetings  to  plead  the  cause  and  organizing  auxilia- 
ries throughout  the  country,  and  more  especially  in  the 
selection  and  training  of  those  whose  hearts  have  been 
stirred  up  by  God  to  consecrate  their  lives  to  his  ser- 
vice in  the  foreign  field. 

Two  years  ago  a  change  was  made  in  the  home 
organization  by  which  the  woman's  work  of  the  Soci- 
ety was  more  closely  identified  with  that  of  the  general 
work.  Lady  directors  are  now  admitted  on  the  gen- 
eral board  of  direction,  and,  with  the  exception  of  the 
work  of  the  selection  and  training  of  lady  candidates, 
which  is  still  in  the  hands  of  a  ladies'  committee,  all 
other  details  connected  with  the  female  mission  work 
are  carried  on  on  the  same  lines  and*  are  under  the 
same  control  as  the  general  work  of  the  Society.  Prob- 
ably opinions  will  differ  as  to  the  wisdom  or  unwisdom 
of  this  joint  management,  but  it  is  certainly  well  to  rec- 
ognize the  fact  that  "  in  Christ  Jesus  there  is  neither 
male  nor  female,"  and  that  our  aim  and  object  is  one — 
to  bring  the  glad  tidings  of  a  Saviour's  love  within  the 
reach  of  every  weary,  sin-laden  soul,  or,  in  the  words 
of  Scripture,  "  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor,  to  heal 
the  broken-hearted,  to  preach  deliverance  to  the  cap- 
tives, the  recovering  of  sight  to  the  blind,  to  set  at  lib- 
erty them  that  are  bruised." 

It  must  be  remembered  that  women  constitute  the 


124  Woman  in  missions. 

larger  half  of  the  population  of  the  world  ;  also,  that  in 
laboring  for  their  elevation  we  are  laboring,  not  for  the 
souls  of  the  women  themselves  only,  but  for  the  whole 
of  mankind  of  woman  born  :  since  she  sits  at  the  foun- 
tain-head of  liie  and  moulds  the  minds  of  the  rising 
generation,  implanting  seeds  of  superstition  or  of  faith, 
of  evil  or  of  virtue,  the  roots  of  which  pierce  so  deeply 
into  and  intertwine  so  firmly  with  the  groundwork  of 
character  that  it  is,  humanly  speaking,  impossible  to 
eradicate  them  in  after  life.  Moreover,  again  and  again 
our  missionaries  report  that  the  chief  hindrance  to  the 
harvest  among  the  men  is  the  influence  exerted  upon 
them  in  their  homes  by  their  wives  and  mothers,  and 
that  these  also  constitute  the  main  force  in  upholding 
all  systems  of  idolatry  and  superstition. 

Therefore,  in  the  spirit  of  the  old  adage  that  "  union 
is  strength,"  we  would  join  hands  with  our  fathers  and 
brothers  and  "strive  together  for  the  faith  of  the  gos- 
pel." 


WORK  FOR  THE  AMERICAN   NEGRO.         125 


WOMAN  AND  TH3  AMERICAS  NEQIIO. 

WOMAN'S  WORK  FOR  THE  AMERICAN 
NEGRO. 

BY  MISS   MARY   G.   BURDETTE. 

What  shall  we  do  with  the  American  negro — 
the  American  citizen  of  African  ancestry  ?  Does  the 
question  imply  that  his  case  requires  special  treatment, 
differing  from  that  of  American  citizens  of  other  de- 
scent ?     If  so,  why  so  ? 

"  We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident :  that  all 
men  are  created  equal ;  that  they  are  endowed  with 
certain  inalienable  rights ;  that  among  them  are  life, 
liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness."  So  reads  our 
glorious  Declaration  of  Independence  ;  and  the  Consti- 
tution further  affirms,  "  All  persons  born  or  naturalized 
in  the  United  States  and  subject  to  the  jurisdiction 
thereof  are  citizens  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  State 
wherein  they  reside.  No  State  shall  make  or  enforce 
any  law  which  shall  abridge  the  privileges  of  citizens  of 
the  United  States." 

Is  the  negro  problem  American  ? 

"  Whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  unto 
you,  do  ye  even  so  unto  them  "  are  the  words  of  the 
Christ. 

Is  the  negro  problem  Christian  ? 

A  finely  educated  and  notably  eloquent  son  of  the 
South  is  reported  as  saying  that  there  was  not  a  restau- 


126  WOMAN  IN    MISSIONS. 

rant  between  Washington  and  Florida  where  he  could 
get  a  meal  without  going  around  to  the  kitchen  door 
and  taking  it  in  his  hands.  What  was  his  offence  ?  A 
black  skin.  "  Oh,  yes,"  you  say,  "  that  is  in  the  south. 
The  problem  is  a  southern  one,  and  the  South  must 
settle  it." 

Not  so  fast,  friend.  In  how  many  hotels  and  res- 
taurants in  the  north  would  he  fare  better  ?  It  is  but 
a  few  weeks  since  we  saw  a  well  -  known  Christian 
household  in  a  prominent  northern  city  thrown  into 
a  state  of  pitiable  and  ludicrous  perplexity  by  the  ar- 
rival of  a  colored  minister  of  acknowledged  ability,  un- 
blemished character,  and  wide  and  honored  Christian 
influence.  "  What  shall  we  do  with  him  ?"  The  house 
was  large,  there  was  plenty  of  unoccupied  room,  and 
had  he  been  white  there  would  have  been  no  question 
concerning  his  entertainment.  As  it  was,  a  whole 
afternoon  was  consumed  in  finding  a  suitable  boarding 
place  where  he  would  come  in  contact  with  only  per- 
sons of  his  own  race !  Was  not  the  principle  un- 
derlying this  proceeding  the  same  in  essence  as  that 
which  sometimes,  among  lawless  classes  in  the  south, 
bears  its  fruit  in  tar  and  feathers,  cross-bones  and 
skulls,  mobs  and  lynchings  ?  The  beam  may  be  in  our 
brother's  eye,  but  the  mote  in  our  own  is  not  so  minute 
as  to  escape  detection.  The  problem  is  also  north- 
ern. Without  question  it  is  national.  Why  should 
trades  unions  shut  the  colored  man  out  of  the  ranks 
of  skilled  mechanics  ?  Why  should  public  sentiment 
forbid  his  employment  as  a  clerk,  personal  repulsion 
decline  to  enter  into  business  partnership  with  him, 
and  prejudice  even  deny  him  the  privilege  of  driving 
the  horse  attached  to  a  street  car,  in  cases  where  he 


WORK  FOR   THE   AMERICAN   NEGRO.  12/ 

has  unquestioned  ability  "to  fill  these  respective  posi- 
tions, and  where  the  only  bar  is  that  of  race  ?  Why 
should  social  custom  consign  to  kitchen,  dining-room 
or  laundry  young  women  of  confessed  graces  of  person 
and  mind  and  purity  of  life,  who  have  struggled  for 
and  obtained  an  education,  simply  because  the  blood 
of  Africa  courses  through  their  veins,  even  though  it  is 
sometimes  mingled  with  the  so-called  "best  blood" 
of  America  ? 

But  you  say,  "The  educated,  the  refined  and  the 
pure  are  the  exceptions.  As  a  race  the  people  are 
ignorant,  superstitious,  immoral,  and  often  vicious." 
Granted.  But  are  not  the  exceptions  marvelously 
numerous  in  view  of  the  obstacles  they  are  compelled  to 
overcome ;  of  the  facts  that  their  ancestors  came  from 
Africa  and  that  but  thirty  years  have  elapsed  since  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation  broke  their  shackles,  after 
two  and  a  half  centuries  of  bitter  bondage,  enforced 
ignorance  and  helpless  degradation  ? 

Again,  why  not  encourage  the  fallen  to  rise  by 
recognizing  what  is  worthy  of  recognition  in  those  who 
have  struggled  out  from  the  low-down  masses,  and 
fitted  themselves  for  places  of  trust  and  emolument  ? 

What  shall  we  do  with  the  American  negro?  Just 
what  we  should  do  with  any  other  American  :  give 
him  the  same  opportunity,  the  same  recognition.  If 
he  has  ability  and  worth  let  him  have  the  position  his 
taste  and  merit  demand.  If  he  is  ignorant,  instruct 
him;  if  imm.oral,  by  example,  no  less  than  by  precept, 
teach  him  purity,  truth,  honesty  and  honor ;  if  he  is 
superstitious,  give  him  the  light  that  shall  put  to  flight 
the  phantoms  of  a  darkened  mind :  in  a  word,  if  he  is 
down   lift   him   up,  and  when  he  is    up    help    him  to 


I2S  WOMAN    IN   MISSIONS. 

Stand.  Educate  him,  Christianize  him,  teach  him  to 
be  "  diligent  in  business,  not  slothful  in  spirit,  serving 
the  Lord,"  and  his  elevation  will  be  the  glory  of  us 
all,  as  his  degradation  is  the  dishonor  of  us  all. 

There  is  another  side  to  the  problem,  in  which 
the  responsibility  rests  with  the  negro.  Granted  that 
opportunities  are  given,  he  himself  must  prove  them. 
If  he  does  not,  and  will  not,  then  he  must  not  find 
fault  if  he  remains  an  outcast  from  the  society  of  the 
pure,  the  true,  the  noble,  the  cultured  and  the  good. 

So  much  in  general.     Our  specific  theme  is 

woman's  work  in  helping  to  solve  the 

PROBLEM. 

We  may  first  be  permitted  to  refer  to  the  work  of 
women  in  the  school-room.  We  concede  that  this 
work  is  not  distinctively  that  of  women,  and,  were  it 
in  the  province  of  this  paper,  would  bear  testimony  to 
the  grand  educational  work  accomplished  by  men, 
both  white  and  colored. 

Nevertheless,  I  need  not  do  more  than  call  atten- 
tion to  the  peculiar  influence  of  a  true,  pure,  well-trained 
woman  in  the  school-room.  Day  by  day,  as  she 
teaches  even  secular  branches,  she  impresses  her  own 
spirit  and  personality  upon  her  pupils ;  they  imbibe 
correct  views  of  morality,  are  led  to  imitate  her  in 
right  doing,  to  avoid  what  is  wrong,  and  go  out  from 
their  school  life  truer,  gentler,  stronger  men  and  wo- 
men because  of  their  contact  with  a  soulful  teacher,  a 
pure  good  woman. 

But  it  is  in  the  distinctively  Christian  schools,  and 
especially  in  boarding  schools,  where  there  are  facilities 
for  making  the  school  a  model  home  and  training  pupils 


WORK  FOR  THE  AMERICAN  NEGRO.    1 29 

tor  domestic,  industrial  and  religious  as  well  as  intel- 
lectual excellence,  that  woman  as  a  teacher  is  doing 
her  best  and  most  far-reaching  work.  Thousands  of 
girls  have  left  such  schools  to  be  home-makers,  while 
other  thousands  have  become  in  turn  teachers  among 
their  own  people,  and  others  have  engaged  in  such 
various  useful  occupations  as  their  specific  talents  and 
circumstances  have  permitted.  The  value  of  these 
schools  can  scarcely  be  overestimated  nor  the  influence 
of  these  teachers  overrated.  But  they  are  few  and  the 
people  are  many.  The  masses  are  still  shut  away  from 
their  help. 

The  principal  of  a  large  boarding-school  for 
young  men  and  women  came  in  person  to  the  execu- 
tive board  of  a  W"oman's  missionary  society  to  plead 
for  a  training  -  teacher,  and  one  argument  was,  "  We 
rake  only  the  brightest  and  best ;  we  turn  numbers  of 
others  away  every  year."  Now  the  brightest  and 
best  furnish  excellent  material  for  such  schools,  but 
what  of  the  numbers  turned  away  ?  They  represent 
the  neglected  masses,  among  whom  there  is  said  to  be 
a  million  children  and  youth  who  ought  to  be  in  school 
but  are  not.     How  are  these  to  be  reached  ? 

FIRST,    IN   THEIR    HOMES. 

A  lamentable  drawback  to  the  progress]  of  the 
colored  race  is  found  in  their  miserable  homes.  Not 
but  that  there  are  many  exceptions,  for  which  we  thank 
God  and  take  courage,  but  we  speak  of  the  rule.  Wo- 
men are  the  home-makers ;  until  the  woman  under- 
stands her  responsibihty  and  learns  how  to  meet  it 
the  so-called  home  can  be  but  a  huddling  place  for  the 
family.     We  have  watched  with  much  interest  the  work 

Woman  in  Hissijus.  Q 


130  \VOMAN    IN    MISSIONS. 

of  certain  women  sent  out  as  missionaries  to  the  colored 
people,  whose  commissions  read,  "  yozcr  work  shall 
have  special  reference  to  the  Christianizatio7i  and 
elevation  of  the  homes  of  the  people"  Christianization 
means  elevation.  We  call  attention  to  some  of  the 
methods  employed.     The  first  of  these  is 

HOUSE-TO-HOUSE   VISITATION. 

"  Lord,  if  thou  wilt,  thou  canst  make  me  clean." 
And  Jesus  put  forth  his  hand  and  touched  him,  saying, 
"  I  will ;  be  thou  clean,"  and  immediately  his  leprosy 
was  cleansed.  Not  thousands,  but  millions  of  these 
people  are  waiting  for  the  outstretched  hand  of  Chris- 
tianity, the  touch  of  Jesus,  the  contact  of  intelligent, 
sympathetic  helpfulness  with  their  need ;  where  can  this 
touch  be  given,  and  where  felt,  as  in  the  home  ?  How 
may  they  be  touched  ?  What  do  the  missionaries 
teach  as  they  go  from  house  to  house  ?  Everything 
the  need  demands  and  their  opportunities  and  ability 
render  possible.  In  answer  to  the  question,  "  What 
are  you  doing?"  one  of  these  workers  replied,  "Caring 
for  immortal  souls  in  ebony  houses  ;"  yes,  and  they 
are  also  caring  for  the  houses  of  these  souls,  for  multi- 
tudes of  these  poor  people  sin  grievously  and  suffer 
much  because  they  know  so  little  about  their  bodies. 
They  are  taught  to  glorify  God  in  their  bodies  as  well 
as  in  their  spirits ;  they  are  also  taught  to  care  for  their 
homes.  This  teaching  was  characteristically  empha- 
sized by  the  woman  who  exclaimed,  "  I  will,  honey.  I 
will  look  up  to  God  and  clean  up  my  house."  She 
had  the  right  concepdon  of  the  order — godliness,  then 
cleanliness — but  as  inseparable  as  faith  and  works. 

The  devices  of  the  missionaries  in  Christianizing 


WORK   FOR   THE   AMERICAN   NEGRO.  I3I 

these  homes  are  many.  One  writes :  "  The  influence 
of  a  growingr  plant  helped  to  get  one  home  in  a  better 
condition,  and  the  introduction  of  a  pretty  picture 
wrought  a  change  in  another.  In  a  third,  the  mother 
asked  me  to  look  into  the  family  sleeping- room,  and 
lo,  what  a  transformation !  a  clean  floor,  beds  white 
and  clean,  the  wall  covered  with  clean  newspapers,  and, 
best  of  all,  the  wom.an  clean  and  happy  and  a  husband 
proud  of  the  tidy  home  and  the  wife  who  had  wrought 
the  miracle."  Another  testifies,  "Where  we  visit  most 
we  have  the  best  schools,  the  best  meetings,  the  best 
women,  and  the  best  homes." 

We  refer  next  in  connection  with  this  work  to  a 
new  feature,  called  by  Joanna  P.  Moore,  the  saindy 
woman  in  whose  heart  and  brain  it  originated, 

THE    FIRESIDE   SCHOOL. 

Concerning  the  plan  she  thus  writes  to  parents: 
"  The  order  of  the  day  is  a  school  around  every  fire- 
side :  a  bright  lamp  burning  on  the  table  covered  with 
lovely  books  and  papers  and  eager  little  faces  around 
it,  with  mother  and  father  as  teachers,  although  they 
are  also  pupils,  and  are  learning  as  they  teach.  Who 
can  look  upon  such  a  home-picture  and  not  have  his 
heart  swell  with  thanksgiving  to  God  ? 

"  We  hear  much  about  the  education  of  our  chil- 
dren. We  are  told  to  send  them  to  school,  to  build 
school-houses  and  employ  teachers,  etc.  This  is  all 
right  as  far  as  it  goes,  but  it  will  not  go  far  towards 
making  truly  inteUigent  and  good  men  or  women  with- 
out this  fireside  school. 

"  Home  is  the  great  school.  Mother,  make  your 
own  home  a  school.     Get  interesting  books  for  your 


132  WOMAN  IN  MISSIONS. 

children  ;  read  with  them  and  talk  about  what  you  read- 
Do  this  when  they  are  very  young;  awaksn  in  them 
a  love  for  books  and  train  them  in  habits  of  study. 
Father,  when  your  day's  work  is  done,  do  not  go  to 
the  saloon,  nor  to  your  neighbor's  home  to  gossip,  but 
put  a  bright  light  on  the  table,  get  out  a  good  paper 
or  some  book  with  pictures,  read  with  your  children 
if  you  can ;  if  not,  let  them  read  to  you.  Ask  them  to 
tell  you  about  the  lessons  they  have  learned  at  school. 
Talk  to  them  pleasantly.  Parents  and  children  are  the 
best  company  for  each  other,  and  my  plan  will  keep 
the  little  ones  off  the  street  and  in  the  home.  Be  pa- 
tient and  kind.  Do  n't  scold  and  whip.  Keep  your 
children  close  to  your  heart.  Tie  them  to  their  home 
by  cords  of  affection.  Make  your  home  such  a  school 
and  you  will  help  to  make  an  intelligent  nation." 

The  Fireside  School  contemplates  a  regular  course 
of  reading  in  the  home,  including  a  portion  of  the  Bible. 
Besides  promising  to  read  each  day  with  her  children, 
the  following 

mother's  pledge 
is  taken : 

1.  "  I  promise  that  by  the  help  of  God  I  will 
pray  with  and  for  my  children  and  expect  their  early 
conversion. 

2.  "  I  will  try  to  be  a  good  pattern  for  my  chil- 
dren in  my  daily  life,  especially  in  temper,  conversa- 
tion and  dress. 

3.  "  I  will  recognize  the  fact  that  God  expects  me 
to  care  for  and  train  my  children  for  him  in  soul  and 
mind  as  well  as  in  body." 


WORK   FOR   THE   AMERICAN   NEGRO.         I33 

It  is  only  about  a  year  since  this  plan  was  inaugu- 
rated, but  Miss  Moore  reports  that,  besides  300  Bibles, 
Soo  other  good  books  have  been  placed  in  homes 
where  mothers  have  taken  the  pledge,  and  some  fifty 
of  these  mothers  have  received  certificates  testifying  to 
the  faithful  discharge  of  the  requirements  during  the 
first  year. 

As  soon  as  these  people  learn  to  read  Satan  is  on 
hand  with  pernicious  literature.  This  work  in  homes 
gives  a  blessed  opportunity  to  supplant  these  designs 
with  food  instead  of  poison. 

Time  does  not  allow  many  details  concerning  the 
multiplied  phases  of  this  work  in  homes,  which  we 
believe  is  doing  more,  as  far  as  it  is  prosecuted,  than 
any  other  one  thing  to  stimulate  these  people  physi- 
cally, intellectually,  morally  and  religiously.  Being 
fundamental  work  it  contributes  to  the  success  of 
every  other  line  of  effort.  It  includes  instruction  in 
proper  ventilation,  selection  and  preparation  of  whole- 
some food,  economical  uses  of  money,  care  of  sick, 
improvement  of  mind,  refinement  of  manners,  and  the 
cultivation  of  spiritual  graces,  all  on  a  practical  and 
Christian  foundation.  Abundant  opportunity  is  af- 
forded for  the  inculcation  of  temperance  principles,  for 
the  promotion  of  social  purity,  for  leading  the  people 
to  help  themselves,  and  creating  su'^h  sentiment  in  favor 
of  education  and  religion  as  is  annu?Jly  sending  thou- 
sands of  children  and  youth  into  schools,  and  even  lead- 
ing to  the  organization  and  support  of  schools  and 
churches  and  the  building  of  school  and  meeting- 
houses.    Suffer  a  single  illustration : 

A  Christian  woman  visited  in  the  Indian  Territory 
a   settlement  of  negroes  appropriately  named  Sodom. 


134  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

Ignorance,  poverty  and  immorality  held  high  carnival. 
Quietly  she  began  her  work,  and  for  weeks  she  con- 
tinued to  visit  the  loathsome  cabins,  intent  on  establish- 
ing friendly  relations  between  herself  and  the  inmates. 
By  and  by  she  had  so  won  her  way  that  she  began  to 
ask,  in  one  hut  after  another,  "  Do  your  children  go  to 
school?"  "No,  honey."  "Why  not?"  "Isn't  no 
school."  "Why  not?"  "  We 's  too  poor,  honey." 
"Do  you  use  snuff?"  "Yes,  honey."  "Do  you  use 
tobacco?"  "Yes,  honey."  "Do  you  drink  beer?" 
"Yes,  honey."  "What  does  your  snuff  cost?  Your 
tobacco  ?  your  beer  ?  Do  you  not  see  that  you  pay  a 
great  deal  more  for  these  harmful  things  than  it  would 
cost  you  to  pay  your  share  of  a  teacher's  salary  and 
educate  your  children  ?  Which  do  you  love  best :  snuff, 
tobacco  and  beer,  or  your  little  ones  ?  Can  you  give 
up  these  harmful  things  for  the  sake  of  your  children  ?" 
Well,  they  did — at  least,  some  of  them  did — and  the 
town  set  apart  an  old  cabin  for  a  school-house,  and 
secured  a  colored  teacher  from  a  Christian  board- 
ing-school not  far  away.  In  less  than  a  year  the  men 
hauled  lumber  and  erected  a  new  board  school-house 
which  served  also  as  a  meeting-house ;  the  women 
began  to  clean  up  their  cabins,  and  in  some  little 
glass  windows  were  put,  and  finally  the  people  became 
ashamed  of  the  nam.e  of  their  town  and  changed  it,  so 
that  now,  if  you  should  visit  the  place  where  old  Sodom 
grovelled,  you  would  find  the  progressive  little  settle- 
ment, Pleasant  Grove,  with  its  school,  its  church  and  its 
greatly  improved  hom.es  and  people.  Note  how  many 
points  there  are  in  this  single  incident  illustrating  the 
value  of  house-to-house  work.  Perhaps  here,  rather 
than  farther  on,  we  may   mention   the   importance  of 


WORK   FOR   THE   AMERICAN   NEGRO.         1 35 

special  work  for  and  with  children  in  addition  to  that 
accomplished  in  the  home,  and,  not  having  time  for  all 
that  has  been  attempted,  we  make  special  mention  of 

INDUSTRIAL    SCHOOLS. 

In  so  doing  we  now  refer  not  so  much  to  the  well- 
equipped  schools,  carried  on  in  a  few  places  on  a  large 
scale,  as  to  such  schools  as  may  be  organized,  without 
expense  for  rent  or  building,  in  any  place  where  there  is 
a  properly  qualified  woman  to  take  charge  ;  schools 
in  which  the  children  may  be  gathered  for  two  hours 
each  week  in  the  church,  school-house,  or  some  home, 
and  taught  the  nobility  of  labor,  and  the  importance  of 
doing  conscientiously  and  thoroughly  whatever  task  is 
assigned.  It  is  not  so  much  what  they  do  as  how 
and  in  what  spirit  they  do  it.  Such  work  is  given 
them  as  is  practicable  and  economical.  The  girls  are 
taught  all  kinds  of  sewing,  from  the  overhanding  of 
patchwork  through  the  successive  grades  of  plain  and 
ornamental  needlework,  while  the  hands  of  the  boys 
are  kept  busy  with  any  employment  adapted  to  their 
tastes  and  possible  under  the  circumstances.  For  tiny 
ones  the  kindergarten  occupations  furnish  many  sug- 
gestions. The  kitchen  garden  idea  is  also  valuable. 
The  text  enforced  over  and  over  again  is  "  He  that  is 
faithful  in  that  which  is  least  is  faithful  also  in  much." 

Is  industry  the  only  thing  taught  in  these  schools  ? 
Far  from  it.  These  weekly  gatherings  of  children  give 
abundant  opportunity  for  lessons  in  cleanliness  of  body, 
neatness  in  dress,  courtesy  in  conduct,  purity  in  morals 
and  duty  towards  God  and  humanity.  The  children 
cany  many  lessons  into  their  homes.  A  prominent  white 
citizen  in  a  southern  city  said  to  the  leader  of  one  of 


136  WOMAN   IN    MISSIONS. 

these  schools,  "  I  can  always  tell  the  children  who  go  to 
your  Industrial  school ;  they  have  cleaner  and  brighter 
faces,  their  clothing  is  neater,  their  tones  gentler,  their 
conversation  purer,  and  their  conduct  better  than  that 
of  children  who  have  not  been  under  such  influence." 

Already  a  number  who,  ten,  twelve  and  fifteen 
years  ago  were  in  these  Industrial  schools,  have  grown 
to  manhood  and  womanhood.  Many  have  homes  of 
their  own  and  many  are  ranking  as  excellent  servants 
and  artizans.  Out  of  these  schools  have  also  come 
teachers,  ministers  and  missionaries.  One  worker  says, 
"  The  best  and  most  reliable  teachers  in  my  Industrial 
schools  are  those  who  entered  as  pupils.  '■ 

One  organization  of  Christian  women  has  inaugu- 
rated and  made  a  very  successful  beginning  in  a  system 
of  Industrial  and  model  Homes  which  are  established 
generally  in  connection  with  the  church  schools,  and 
furnish  instruction  in  all  departments  of  housekeeping, 
dressmaking,  plain  sewing,  cooking,  gardening,  etc. 
In  these  schools  it  is  the  rule  that  girls  shall  spend  their 
senior  year  in  the  Home.  The  spiritual  side  of  the  work 
is  reported  as  very  encouraging. 

Is  it  Judge  Tourgee  who  makes  the  spelling-book 
the  prime  factor  in  the  elevation  of  the  negro  ?  We 
amend  his  motion  by  adding  the  Bible,  and  placing  it 
first.  The  old-time  negro  had  no  use  for  the  Bible. 
One  woman  said  to  a  visitor,  "  No,  I  can't  read  and  do  n't 
want  to.  I  do  n't  need  to  read  the  Bible.  I 's  got  the 
sperit,  and  it  teaches  me  not  to  put  my  light  under  a 
bushel,  nor  under  a  peck  neither.  People  as  has  head- 
religion  gets  along  well  enough  for  a  time,  but  when 
they  dies  they  gets  left." 

Nevertheless,  "  The  entrance  of  God's  word  giveth 


WORK   FOR   THE   AMERICAN    NEGRO.  1 37 

light ;  it  giveth  understanding  to  the  simple,"  and  we 
are  glad  to  quote  from  a  letter  written  recently  by  one 
of  these  enlightened  colored  women,  who  lives  in  a 
town  where  a  Christian  white  missionary  has  for  years 
met  a  class  of  colored  women  every  morning  for  Bible 
study,  instruction  in  personal  duties,  and  prayers.  She 
says,  "My  people  used  to  say  '  De  Bible  no 'count. 
We  done  got  de  sperit ;  de  letter  killeth  but  de  sperit 
giveth  light.'  Now  many  of  these  same  women  love 
the  Bible,  and  would  rather  die  than  give  up  read- 
ing it." 

Recognizing  the  importance  of  this  study,  scores  of 

BIBLE  BANDS, 

whose  members  meet  for  special  study,  supplement  the 
work  done  in  the  homes,  and  are  open  to  both  sexes. 
Many  ministers  attend,  and  testify  to  receiving  much 
help  in  interpreting  and  teaching  the  Word.  "  It  is  as- 
tonishing," writes  one  missionary,  "  how  preachers 
pick  up  and  assimilate  truths  taught,  and  often  preach 
them  in  our  presence  almost  verbatim,  with  great  im- 
pressiveness  and  serene  unconsciousness." 

A  prominent  educated  colored  pastor  and  editor 
in  Memphis,  referring  to  the  effect  of  this  work  on  that 
city,  says,  "  The  quietude  that  now  prevails,  compared 
with  former  times,  is  remarkable.  Many  minds  that 
had  gone  wild  over  Baal-worship  have  been  settled,  and 
the  people  are  thinking  better  and  living  better."  An- 
other pastor  testifies,  "  There  has  been  quite  a  revolu- 
tion in  my  church  since  these  sisters  have  been  at  work. 
My  people  now  bring  their  Bibles  to  church  and  know 
how  to  find  the  text."  It  is  from  these  Bible  Bands 
that   the   majority  of  workers    in    Industrial,  Mission, 


138  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

Sunday  and  Temperance  schools  are  recruited,  and 
from  them  also  come  most  of  the  selected  ones  who 
form  the  local  training-classes,  of  which  we  shall  speak 
later.  At  a  recent  quarterly  meeting  of  Bible  Bands  in 
one  city  two  hundred  colored  women  were  in  attend- 
ance. These  women  are  active  in  their  own  churches 
and  contribute  also  to  home  and  foreign  missions. 

Remember,  "  Uke  mother,  like  child ;"  and  the 
children  of  to-day  are  the  men  and  women  of  to-mor- 
row. A  people  built  upon  a  Bible  foundation  cannot 
but  be  a  good  people. 

Another  effective  means  of  helping  the  women, 
and  through  them  the  race,  is  the 

women's  or  mothers'  meeting. 

Here  experiences  are  related,  plans  discussed,  perplex- 
ities stated  and  encouragements  reported  under  intelli- 
gent Christian  leadership.  Bible  study  and  prayer  are 
notable  features.  Sometimes  a  mother  walks  several 
miles  with  a  baby  in  her  arms  to  be  present.  One  of 
these  women  prayed,  "Lord,  when  we  measure  our- 
selves by  thy  Word  we  come  short  in  every  part. 
What  shall  we  do?"  Was  there  not  an  answer  in 
the  testimony  of  another  woman,  who  said,  "  Before  I 
learned  to  live  by  my  Bible  my  religion  was  Uke  a  fire 
of  shavings,  all  ablaze  one  day  and  all  out  the  next ; 
but  now  I  've  settled  down  to  a  steady  fire  of  solid, 
live-oak  coals  "  ? 

TRAINING-  CLASSES 

for  Christian  workers  next  claim  our  attention.  These 
classes  are  composed  of  women  who  can  give  more  or 
less  time  to  personal  work  outside  of  their  own  homes 


WORK  FOR  THE  AMERICAN  NEGRO.    1 39 

in  the  neighborhoods  in  which  they  Hve.  They  are 
carefully  instructed  in  Bible  truths  and  how  to  apply 
them,  and  are  then  sent  out  to  communicate  what  they 
have  received.  One  consecrated  leader  in  such  work 
says,  "  Through  my  women's  meetings  during  the  past 
eight  weeks  I  have  reached  not  less  than  one  thousand 
persons  with  a  Bible  lesson  occupying  weekly  one 
hour."  In  her  training-class  she  imparted  truth  each 
week  to  twenty  earnest  women  who,  with  their  Bibles, 
visit  as  they  have  time  the  homes  of  their  less  favored 
and  more  ignorant  sisters. 

In  one  city  where  there  are  twenty-two  Industrial 
Schools  nineteen  are  conducted  by  women  belonging 
to  one  of  these  training-classes  which  enrolls  thirty-five 
members.  These  women,  besides  visiting  in  homes 
and  teaching  in  Industrial  Schools,  organize  and  teach 
neighborhood  Sunday-schools,  held  often  in  their  own 
little  homes,  for  neglected  children  whom  they  gather 
from  the  streets,  visit  hospitals,  asylums,  poorhouses 
and  jails,  carrying  papers  and  tracts  and  a  gospel  mes- 
age  of  salvation.  Many  of  these  women  work  hard  to 
earn  a  living  for  their  families,  and  yet  so  great  is  their 
desire  for  the  uplifting  of  the  race  that  they  find  time 
for  this  ministry  of  help  and  hope. 

One  sister,  whose  years  number  sixty-five  and  who 
had  learned  to  read  the  Bible  after  she  had  passed 
sixty,  said,  "  I  depend  upon  the  Bible  for  my  soul  as  I 
do  upon  food  for  my  body,  and  I  want  to  help  a  little. 
I  saw  some  children  running  wild,  and  I  said,  '  They 
are  little  things ;  I  v/ill  help  them.'  I  visited  the  cab- 
ins on  the  plantation  and  invited  the  people  to  send 
their  children  to  my  home  on  Sunday.  At  first  five 
came,  but  now  forty-five ;  and  I  have  them  come  also 


140  WOMAN   IN    MISSIONS. 

on  Saturday,  because  I  cannot  teach  them  enough  on 
Sunday.  Sisters,  look  around  for  the  little  things,  and 
keep  doing  them." 

The  idea  of  special  training  for  native  workers 
originated  with  Joanna  P.  Moore,  whose  name  has  been 
previously  mentioned,  and  who  for  thirty  years  has 
devoted  herself  heroically  to  the  cause  of  the  higher 
emancipation  of  the  colored  race  from  the  thralldom  of 
ignorance  and  error.  The  mustard -seed  is  already 
growing  into  tree-Hke  proportions,  and  besides  her  own 
Training-school  for  Women  at  Little  Rock  and  a 
growing  number  of  local  classes  in  other  places,  the 
women  of  the  Baptist  denomination  are  sustaining  a 
missionary  training  department  in  connection  with 
Shaw  University,  Raleigh,  N.  C,  and  another  in  con- 
nection with  Spelman  Seminary,  Atlanta,  Ga. 

The  local  classes  are  designed  for  women  who 
cannot  leave  their  homes,  but  who  are  capable  of  ren- 
dering service  in  their  own  churches  and  communi- 
ties. The  departments  at  Shaw  and  Spelman  are  de- 
signed for  the  training  of  specially  qualified,  educated 
colored  women  for  missionary  work  among  their  own 
people  in  this  land  or  in  Africa. 

IN   CONCLUSION. 

We  have  called  attention  to  a  few  facts  showing 
some  phases  of  work  by  means  of  which  woman  is  try- 
ing to  assist  in  the  physical,  intellectual  and  spiritual 
uplifting  of  the  American  negro,  and  as  a  consequence 
in  the  Christian  and  republican  solution  of  the  race 
problem  as  far  as  it  concerns  him.  We  quote  some  tes- 
timony of  workers  showing  encouragement.    Says  one : 

"  I  see  a  steady   progress  all  along  the  line.     In 


WORK  FOR  THE  AMERICAN  NEGRO.     I4I 

the  country  there  is  a  wonderful  uprising  of  women 
awaking  as  out  of  sleep.  A  large  number  of  them  are 
now  engaged  in  more  or  less  work  in  and  near  their 
own  homes  ;  but  all  feel  the  need  of  training."  An- 
other :  "  Among  the  older  people  we  notice  a  much 
deeper  interest  in  children  and  youth,  more  desire  that 
good  instruction  be  provided  for  them,  and  a  willingness 
to  arrange  the  church  services  so  as  to  give  them  a 
time  and  place  for  their  meetings  and  Bible  readings. 
It  used  to  be  common  to  hear  the  old  folks  grumble 
about  '  children  getting  in  their  way  at  church,'  but  now 
they  bring  them.  Quite  a  number  who  were  children 
when  we  came  are  now  willing  and  able  to  be  our 
helpers." 

One  very  successful  worker  in  Tennessee,  herself 
an  educated  and  refined  negro,  among  other  encour- 
agements speaks  of  the  growing  recognition  given  to 
the  colored  women  by  their  white  sisters,  and  refers  to 
their  attendance  at  some  of  the  meetings,  their  evident 
interest,  words  of  sympathy  and  acts  of  kindness,  and 
says,  "  I  beHeve  the  key-note  has  been  struck  that  will 
eventually  harmonize  the  terrible  disturbance  that 
Satan  and  sin  have  made  in  our  land.  That  key-note 
is  found  in  the  effort  now  put  forth  to  Christianize  the 
homes  of  ozir  people,  and  lay  tipon  those  who  are  helped 
the  responsibility  to  help  others.  As  I  go  among  my 
people  I  teach,  with  application  to  the  race  question, 
the  1 2th  chapter  of  Romans,  emphasizing  the  14th 
verse  :  '  Bless  them  w^hich  persecute  you,  bless,  and 
curse  not.'  " 

Had  we  time  we  would  speak  of  some  notable 
meetings  well  attended  and  well  conducted,  conventions 
composed    of  and   presided  over  by  colored  women, 


142  WOMAN   IN  MISSIONS. 

who  have  been  reached  and  trained  in  the  way  des- 
cribed. We  must  crave  a  moment's  indulgence  to 
refer  to  a  Mothers'  Conference  recently  held  in  the 
city  of  Little  Rock,  Ark.,  in  which  were  discussed 
ably  and  effectively  a  number  of  topics  relating  to  the 
homes,  especially  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of 
wives  and  mothers.  The  invitation  was  sent  to  wo- 
men representing  all  denominations,  stating  that  a 
great  battle  was  to  be  fought,  not  between  Methodists 
and  Baptists,  but  between  good  homes  and  bad  homes, 
between  the  influences  that  degrade  and  destroy  homes 
and  those  that  purify  and  elevate  them.  Among  the 
questions  discussed  we  enumerate  the  following : 

1.  The  necessity  of  the  mother  being  a  pattern  to 
her  children  in  temper,  conversation  and  dress. 

2.  The  importance  of  mothers  improving  them- 
selves physically,  mentally  and  morally  for  the  sake 
of  their  children. 

3.  At  what  age  should  obedience  be  enforced  ? 

4.  Can  children  be  taught  manners  and  morals 
in  their  plays  ?  If  so,  should  not  parents  give  careful 
attention  to  the  plays  in  v/hich  their  children  engage? 

5.  Discussion  of  right  and  wrong  methods  of  pun- 
ishment. 

6.  Temperance  being  self-control  in  the  matter  of 
appetites  and  passions,  how  are  children  taught  intem- 
perance when  very  young  ? 

7.  What  is  the  proper  dress,  and  food,  and  amount 
of  sleep  for  children  at  given  ages  ? 

8.  How  can  a  Fireside  School  be  maintained  in 
every  home,  and  how  can  the  necessary  books  be  ob- 
tained ? 

9.  How  do  some  of  our  present  plans  for  raising 


WORK   FOR   THE   AMERICAN   NEGRO.  I43 

money  for  the  Lord's  cause  teach  our  children  bold- 
ness, vanity,  pride,  selfishness  and  self-gratification  ? 

ID.  Discussion  of  methods  by  which  money  could 
be  raised  so  as  to  teach  the  children  self-denial,  modes- 
ty, reverence  for  God  and  a  love  for  the  cause  of  Christ. 

Last,  but  not  least,  in  many  parts  of  the  south, 
where  such  work  as  we  have  described  has  been  wisely 
carried  on,  we  note  a  slow  but  hopeful  breaking  down 
of  foolish  and  wicked  race  prejudice,  and  in  some  places 
white  women  in  good  standing  in  society  and  the 
church  are  not  only  laying  their  hands  to  the  work, 
but  in  so  doing  are  asking  for  the  assistance  of  for- 
merly ostracized  missionaries.  The  breach  is  not  wide, 
but  a  crack  is  appearing  in  the  wall.  Words  of  com- 
mendation are  growing  more  frequent  as  the  work 
is  becoming  better  understood.  ,  Said  one  lady  to  a 
missionary,  "  The  more  I  see  of  your  work  the  better  I 
like  it."  Another,  "  Can  you  not  attend  our  W.  C.  T. 
U.  regularly?  You  came  once  last  year,  and  ever 
since  I  have  been  investigating  your  noble  work.  The 
more  I  see  of  it  the  more  I  am  convinced  it  is  just 
what  our  colored  people  need;"  and  still  another, 
"You  do  not  know  m.e,  but  I  know  of  your  work,  and 
wish  that  my  own  little  girl  could  be  under  such  in- 
struction." 

We  have  not  theorized,  but  have  stated  facts. 
What  do  you  think  of  such  work  ?  Is  it  not  womanly  ? 
Is  It  not  Christian  ?  Is  it  not  appropriate  ?  Is  it  not 
practical  ?  Is  it  not  effective  ?  Why,  then,  not  do 
more  of  it  ?  As  we  sweep  our  eye  over  the  nearly 
eight  millions  of  colored  people  in  our  land,  the  great 
majority  of  whom  are  waiting  for  just  such  help,  and 
then  look  upon  the  few  scattered  helpers,  we  recall  the 


144  WOMAN    IN    MISSIONS. 

announcement  of  the  negro  minister  in  Texas :  "  We 
are  celebrating  the  centennial  of  moderate  viissionsy 
A  woman  was  observed  laying  a  paper  pattern,  now 
this  way  and  now  that  way,  on  a  piece  of  cloth,  while 
her  face  showed  a  distressed  perplexity  which  she 
thus  explained  :  "  I  want  to  cut  two  garments  but  have 
only  cloth  enough  for  one."  Dear  women  of  the 
Christian  church,  a  great  work  lies  before  you;  will 
you  see  to  it  that  the  material  for  its  accomplishment  is 
commensurate  to  the  need?  Every  boy  saved  be- 
comes a  saved  man  ;  every  girl  saved  becomes  a  saved 
woman ;  every  woman  taught  becomes  direcdy  or  in- 
directly a  teacher  ;  every  home  transformed  becomes  a 
centre  of  light  and  beneficent  influence.  Lift  up  the 
women  and  you  lift  up  the  race.  Save  the  home  and 
you  save  the  nation.  Christianize  and  rightly  educate 
the  people,  white  and  black,  and  you  settle  the  race 
problem  once  for  all  as  Jesus  Christ  would  have  it  set- 
tled. Can  we  better  close  this  paper  than  with  the 
prayer  of  the  Afro- American  brother,  "  Lord,  link  and 
tie  us  together  by  one  bond  of  Christian  qualification  "  ? 
Then  indeed  shall  we  be  the  nation  whom  righteous- 
ness exalteth,  the  happy  people  whose  God  is  the 
Lord. 


IMPORTANCE   OF    MEDICAL   MISSIONS.        I45 

WOMAN  AKD  MEDICAL  MISSIONS. 

IMPORTANCE  OF  MEDICAL  MISSIONS. 

BY   ISABELLA   BIRD   BISHOP. 

It  is  as  a  traveller  that  I  am  asked  to  address  this 
audience,  and  as  one  who  has  been  converted  from  in- 
differentism  to  the  duty  and  importance  of  missionary- 
effort  by  seeing  in  the  Foreign  Mission  field  the  work 
and  influence  of  the  consecrated  lives  of  Christian  men 
and  women,  many  of  them  citizens  of  your  great  repub- 
lic. In  four  years  and  a  half  of  Asiadc  traveUing, 
during  most  of  which  time  I  have  lived  among  the 
people  with  an  interpreter,  I  have  learned  of  the  sore 
needs  of  the  unchristianized  world,  with  its  sorrows  and 
its  sins. 

Here  and  in  Britain  those  who  stay  at  home  and 
help  missions  naturally  dwell  more  on  the  work  done ; 
to  me  it  is  the  work  undone  which  bulks  appalUngly : 
the  ten  hundred  and  thirty  millions  without  Christ 
nearly  nineteen  centuries  after  his  birth,  and  the  awful 
fact  that,  in  spite  of  the  increased  activity  of  the  church, 
heathenism  has  so  gained  upon  our  efforts  that,  while 
something  under  four  millions  of  persons  have  re- 
ceived baptism  on  making  a  Christian  profession  within 
this  century,  the  natural  increase  of  the  world's  non- 
Christian  population  has  been  two  hundred  millions  in 
the  same  time.  It  may  be  said  that  "  the  times  of  this 
ignorance  God  winked  at,"  v/hen  our  knowledge  was 

Womi'.n  In  Missinus.  lO 


146  WOMAN   IN    MISSIONS. 

but  of  the  fringe  of  heathendom ;  but  in  our  age,  when 
travellers  have  scarcely  left  any  region  untouched,  and 
Geographical,  Ethnographical  and  Anthropological  so- 
cieties bring  the  knowledge  of  "  Dark  Continents  "  and 
the  conditi'T-  of  their  peoples  to  our  very  doors,  apathy 
or  half-heartedness  is  without  excuse,  and  our  respon- 
sibility is  vastly  increased  by  our  enlightenment. 

On  no  point  is  our  modern  information  more 
explicit  than  on  the  amount  of  suffering  which  is  every- 
where the  result  of  native  methods  of  medical  treat- 
ment, and  in  a  little  more  than  half  a  century  the 
church,  waking  up  at  last  to  see  that  in  order  to  do  her 
Lord's  work  she  must  adopt  her  Lord's  methods,  has 
increased  the  number  of  her  medical  missionaries  from 
ten  to  359,  seventy-four  of  whom  are  women,  all  pledged 
to  obedience  to  the  Master's  double  command,  "  Heal 
the  sick  and  preach  the  gospel."  But  what  are  they 
among  so  many  ? 

We  are  all  painfully  aware  of  what  sickness  means 
among  ourselves :  the  physical  suffering,  the  torturing 
anxieties,  the  upsetting  of  plans,  the  incapacity  for  bread- 
winning,  the  day  and  night  watching,  the  ups  and  downs 
of  hope,  and  ofttimes  its  slov/  and  anguished  abandon- 
ment, and  much  besides.  But  we  also  know  what  it  is 
to  have  at  command  the  skill,  kindness  and  devoted 
attention  of  the  most  generous  of  professions,  with  every 
expedient  for  alleviating  suffering  which  modern  sci- 
ence has  devised.  We  know  how  everything  which  can 
tempt  the  appetite  or  give  even  temporary  ease  is  pro- 
cured at  any  cost.  We  know  the  patient  self-sacrifice 
of  friends  and  relations,  the  tender  touch,  the  sympa- 
thetic tones,  the  ransacking  for  our  benefit  of  all  the 
sources  of  comfort  and  interest,  and  the  skill  and  expe- 


IMPORTANCE   OF    MEDICAL   MISSIONS.        I47 

dients  of  that  modern  blessing,  the  trained  nurse. 
Among  us  the  sick  person  becomes  temporarily  royal 
and  the  sick-room  sacred  ground.  Every  voice  and 
footfall  is  hushed,  knockers  and  bells  are  muffled,  ordi- 
nary occupations  are  modified  or  suspended ;  the  patient 
is  the  pivot  on  which  for  the  time  the  household  re- 
volves, and  all  that  is  choice  or  beautiful  finds  its  way 
to  the  sick-room.  With  all  the  sorrow  and  sufifering 
of  illness  among  us  it  is  often  a  time  of  singular  revela- 
tions of  depths  of  tenderness  previously  undreamed  of — 
of  beauties  of  self-denial  in  commonplace  characters 
hitherto  unsuspected,  and  of  abounding  kind-hearted- 
ness among  many  who  were  formerly  strangers.  And 
to  the  credit  of  the  Christianity  which  has  enlightened 
us  it  must  be  added  that  our  noble  medical  charities  are 
open,  like  the  Great  Physician's  compassion,  "  without 
money  and  without  price"  to  the  lonely  and  outcast 
poor,  and  that  those  who  from  various  circumstances 
cannot  be  cared  for  in  their  own  homes  receive  in  our 
magnificently  equipped  hospitals  every  attention  which 
it  is  in  the  power  of  our  best  physicians  and  nurses  to 
bestow. 

Above  all,  the  pious  ministrations  of  ministers 
and  Christian  friends  soothe  and  strengthen  the  spirit ; 
a  peace  which  passeth  understanding  possesses  the  be- 
liever's soul,  and  when  human  help  is  vain  the  rod  and 
staff  of  the  Good  Shepherd  are  at  hand  amid  the  swell- 
ings of  Jordan,  and  the  Saviour's  voice,  speaking  of  life 
and  resurrection,  is  heard  above  the  footfall  of  the  king 
of  terrors  as  the  soul  passes  unharmed  unto  Him  who 
hath  abolished  death  and  brought  life  and  immortality 
to  light  through  his  gospel. 

But  what  does  illness  usually  mean  in  non-Chris- 


148  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

tian  lands?  We  must  remember  that  throughout  the 
greater  part  of  the  heathen  world  illness  is  believed  to 
be  the  work  of  demons,  or,  more  correcdy,  a  form  of 
demoniacal  possession,  and  a  sick  person  is  an  object 
of  loathing  as  '.veil  as  of  fear.  The  house  is  regarded 
as  polluted  by  his  presence.  In  many  lands  he  is 
removed  to  an  out-building,  where  he  is  supplied  once 
a  day  with  food  and  water,  and  he  is  shunned  by  his 
nearest  relations.  If  his  heahng  is  desired  the  doctors 
and  priests  are  summoned,  gongs  and  drums  are  beat- 
en, fires  are  lighted  as  the  centres  of  diabolical  dances 
accompanied  by  frenzied  chants,  incantations  and  exor- 
cisms are  resorted  to,  the  stomach  of  the  patient  is 
beaten  with  clubs  to  drive  out  the  supposed  demon,  he 
is  subjected  to  untellable  tortures,  and  often,  when  the 
malady  becomes  chronic  or  is  severely  infectious,  he  is 
carried  to  a  mountain  top  or  river  bank,  supplied  with 
a  little  food  and  water,  and  left  to  die  alone. 

In  the  case  of  women,  and  especially  of  the  seclu- 
ded women,  the  barbarides  inflicted  by  those  who  pro- 
fess to  attend  them  in  sickness  cannot  be  related  in  such 
an  audience.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  native  midwifery 
abounds  in  ignorant  and  brutal  customs  which  in  thou- 
sands of  cases  produce  life-long  suffering  and,  in  many, 
fatal  results.  It  is  net  unusual  in  polygamous  house- 
holds for  discarded  or  uncared-for  wives  to  bribe  the 
midwife  to  inflict  such  an  injury  upon  the  favorite  wife 
as  shall  ren.hr  her  incapable  for  further  child-bearing. 

In  Farther  India,  and  even  in  India,  it  is  usual  for 
midwives  to  jump  upon  the  abdomen  of  the  mother  in 
her  agony,  or  to  put  a  plank  across  it  and  jump  on  the 
ends  of  the  plank,  in  order  to  accelerate  the  processes 
of  nature ;  and  in  one  of  your  own  mission  hospitals  in 


IMPORTANCE   OF    MEDICAL    MISSIONS.        1 49 

Northern  India  which  I  visited  I  saw,  among  nine  pa- 
tients, five  who  were  suffering  from  severe  abscesses  and 
internal  injuries  produced  by  the  fracture  of  one  or 
more  of  the  false  ribs  under  this  barbarous  treatment. 
And  thus,  in  aggravated  agony,  the  curse  of  Eden  is 
fulfilled  upon  the  child-mothers  of  the  East.  It  is  cus- 
tomary in  many  parts  to  place  a  mother  after  child- 
birth, without  clothing,  in  front  of  a  hot  fire  until  the 
skin  of  the  abdomen  is  covered  with  severe  blisters, 
after  which  she  is  plunged  into  cold  water. 

In  Africa,  as  is  well  known,  the  "  witch  doctor  " 
not  only  inflicts  horrible  barbarities  upon  the  sick  and 
infinite  wrongs  upon  the  innocent,  but  it  is  less  well 
known  that  in  comparatively  civilized  Asia  the  native 
systems  of  medicine  are  usually  mixed  up  with  witch- 
craft, astrology  and  demonology,  and  are  compounds 
of  empiricism,  superstition  and  ignorance,  and  nowhere 
more  so  than  in  China.  I  by  no  means  intend  to  say 
that  there  are  no  efficacious  remedies  in  the  hands  of 
the  native  doctors,  or  that  their  methods  are  always  in- 
tentionally barbarous.  Much  of  the  barbarity  is  the 
result  of  gross  ignorance  and  superstition.  I  will 
crive  a  few  of  some  of  the  milder  and  simpler  forms 
of  treatment  which  have  come  under  my  own  observa- 
tion : 

In  rheumatism,  sewing  a  patient  up  in  the  skin  of 
a  newly-killed  sheep,  and  walking  him  about  in  the 
hot  sun  till  it  stiffens  upon  him. 

For  deafness,  drinking  warm  blood  taken  from  a 
vein  at  the  back  of  a  man's  ear ;  or  placing  the  patient 
on  the  ground  at  the  feet  of  an  operator  raised  consid- 
erably above  him,  who  lifts  him  up  nine  times  by  his 
ears,  which  are  frequently  torn  off  during  the  process ; 


150  WOMAN  IN  iMISSIONS. 

or  piercing  the  drum  of  the  ear,  which  usually  produces 
complete  deafness. 

Wounds  are  constantly  stuffed  with  cayenne  pep- 
per, and  the  skin  is  drawn  over  it  by  stitches  of  twine. 

Severe  rheumatism  in  the  ankles  is  often  treated  by 
cutting  open  the  back  of  the  heel,  scraping  away  the 
flesh  to  the  bone,  filling  the  cavity  with  cayenne  pep- 
per, and  stitching  the  skin  over  it ;  gangrene  and  death 
frequently  resulting. 

The  supposition  being  that  illness  is  the  work  of 
demons,  the  doctors,  for  a  large  fee,  will  provide  a  lock 
of  the  hair  of  the  demon  that  has  wrought  the  ill.  They 
slash  the  patient's  skin,  remove  a  piece  of  flesh,  insert 
the  hair  into  the  cavity,  and  stitch  the  skin  over  it. 
Inflammation  and  suppuration  occur,  the  flesh  breaks 
away  from  the  stitches,  and  the  process  is  repeated,  till 
in  many  cases  the  patient's  strength  and  purse  become 
exhausted  and  he  dies. 

External  tumors  are  strangled  by  tying  round  their 
base  human  hairs  of  unusual  length  and  strength,  mor- 
tification and  death  frequentiy  resulting. 

Fractures  are  placed  in  splints  of  rough,  unpadded 
bark,  and  are  tied  up  with  coarse  string  so  tightly  that 
blisters,  severe  wounds,  and  mortification  frequently 
occur. 

In  delirium  from  fever,  which  is  regarded  as  one  of 
the  worst  forms  of  demoniacal  possession,  the  sufferer 
is,  in  some  regions,  placed  in  an  out-house  and  chained 
hand  and  foot  to  a  stone  block.  Would  that  this  aud- 
ience could  realize  something  of  the  miseries  endured 
by  the  heathen  from  malarial  fever  alone,  where  the 
patients  are  untended  in  their  misery,  which  is  fabu- 
lously augmented  by  the  ignorance  and  cruel  remedies 


IMPORTANCE    OF   MEDICAL   MISSIONS.         151 

(so-called)  of  native  medicine  !  From  malarial  fever 
alone  437,000  natives  died  in  18S8  in  the  Punjab,  a 
mass  of  suitering  terrible  to  think  of. 

In  China  it  is  customary  to  "let  out"  as  they  say, 
pain  in  the  head  by  piercing  the  eye-ball  or  drum  of 
the  ear,  treatment  which  often  produces  deafness  or 
blindness.  For  some  maladies  the  eating  and  drinking 
by  parents  of  the  excreta  of  their  own  offspring  is  pre- 
scribed— in  others  those  of  a  sacred  animal ;  and  I  can- 
not horrify  you  by  details  of  the  nature  of  the  poultices 
and  lotions  which  are  applied  in  eye  diseases.  In  one 
of  the  most  elaborately  civilized  of  Eastern  countries, 
in  many  cases,  when  a  father  is  seriously  ill,  the  doctor, 
using  incantations,  cuts  a  piece  of  flesh  from  the  son's 
arm,  cooks  it  with  magical  ceremonies,  and  the  patient 
eats  it  as  an  efficacious  cure  for  his  malady. 

In  the  same  country  the  following  is  not  an  unusual 
prescription  for  certain  painful  but  slight  ailments :  10 
Spanish  flies ;  3  centipeds  ;  10  silk  worms ;  10  scor- 
pions. To  be  pounded  together  and  taken  at  once. 
This  appalling  dose  brings  on  severe  inflammation, 
which  in  the  cases  which  have  come  under  the  notice  of 
the  medical  missionary  have  always  ended  fatally.  The 
Hakims  of  the  same  nation  profess  to  cure  rheumatism, 
which  seems  to  be  a  world-wide  affliction,  by  sticking 
the  body  of  the  patient  over  with  large  needles  having 
tow  dipped  in  oil  round  their  heads.  This  is  set  fire 
to  and  forms  a  sort  of  cautery,  producing  wounds 
vv^hich  are  aggravated  by  the  insertion  of  what  are 
called  "  medicinal  nails,"  composed  of  corrosive  subli- 
mate, arsenic  and  salt  cooked  up  with  mucilage.  The 
resulting  wounds  are  often  very  severe,  and  the  profuse 
discharge  saps  the  strength  and  sometimes  destroys  the 


152  WOMAN  IN   MISSIONS. 

lives  of  patients.  Such  are  among  the  remedies  pre- 
vailing not  among  savages,  but  among  races  whose  civ- 
ilization is  much  older  and  more  elaborate  than  our  own. 

In  all  countries  a  belief  in  the  efificacy  of  certain 
idols,  shrines,  stones,  trees  or  waters  prevails,  and  no 
Buddhist,  Hindoo  or  Moslem  would  spend  an  hour  of 
the  day  or  night  without  a  charm,  amulet,  or  talisman, 
purchased  from  the  priests,  round  his  neck  or  arm, 
with  the  object  of  warding  off  sickness.  The  shrines  of 
the  medicine  gods  of  all  nations  are  sure  of  votaries  and 
offerings,  and  even  in  modern  Japan  the  red  lacquer 
medicine-god  Binzuru  is  universally  resorted  to  by  and 
for  the  sick,  the  method  of  invocation  consisting  in  rub- 
bing with  the  finger  that  part  of  the  idol's  person  which 
corresponds  to  the  affected  part  of  the  patient. 

Of  the  sanitary  and  antiseptic  precautions  required 
in  sickness  these  people  have  no  knowledge,  and  their 
wounds,  whether  natural  or  artificial,  are  in  the  hot 
weather  alive  with  maggots.  The  alleviations  which  in 
Christian  countries  mitigate  the  sufferings  of  the  dying 
are  unknown  to  them,  and  they  regard  death  as  the 
triumph  of  the  supposed  demon.  Amidst  beating  of 
gongs,  drummings,  shoutings  and  incantations,  with 
their  dying  thirst  unassuaged,  and  with  their  nostrils 
plugged  with  a  mixture  of  aromatic  herbs  and  clay,  or 
with  the  mud  of  sacred  streams,  our  heathen  brethren 
and  sisters  are  passing  in  an  unending,  ghastly,  re- 
proachful procession  into  Christless  graves  at  the  rate 
of  forty-three  millions  a  year.  Ghastliest  and  most 
solemn  thought,  that  for  every  minute  in  which  v/e  have 
been  assembled  here  eighty-three  Christless  souls  from 
death-beds  such  as  these  have  passed  into  the  presence 
of  their  Judge — and  ours  1 


IMPORTANCE    OF   MEDICAL   MISSIONS.         I  53 

Their  physical  woes  justly  move  us,  but  their 
Christlessness  and  hopelessness  have  an  infinity  of 
piteousness.  Over  their  sick-beds  no  divine  Comforter 
broods;  no  revelation  of  the  fatherhood  of  God  or 
the  brotherhood  of  Christ  has  reached  them,  or  one 
gHmmer  of  that  light  which  He  who  is  the  resurrection 
and  the  life  has  shed  on  the  future  of  the  human  spirit. 
Where  are  our  agonizing  prayers,  where  is  our  heart- 
brokenness,  where  our  great  personal  self-denials  for 
the  heathen?  "  Oh  that  my  head  were  waters,  and  my 
eyes  a  fountain  of  tears,  that  I  might  weep  day  and 
night  for  the  slain,"  groans  the  prophet  Jeremiah. 
When  St.  Paul  wrote  of  those  "  whose  end  is  destruc- 
tion "  it  was  on  a  page  blotted  with  his  tears ;  and  when 
He  who  alone  knows  what  destruction  is,  beheld  the 
city  which  was  to  reject  him,  his  tears  flowed  over  its 
self-chosen  doom. 

Nearly  all  doers  are  now  open  to  the  medical  mis- 
sionary. Who  of  you  will  enter  in,  my  Christian  sis- 
ters ?  The  person  of  the  Hakim  is  everywhere  sacred. 
It  is  the  glorious  work  of  the  missionary  physician  to 
overthrow  those  barbarous  systems  of  medical  treat- 
ment to  which  I  have  briefly  alluded,  and  to  substitute 
for  them  the  scientific  methods,  the  skill  and  the  suavi- 
ties of  European  medicine,  as  well  as  to  inculcate  ten- 
derness for  suffering  and  reverence  for  human  Ufe.  To 
our  medical  sisters  is  the  special  honor  given  to  enter 
the  domestic  Bastiles  of  the  East  with  healing  and  light, 
and  to  make  an  end  by  their  skilled  and  beneficent 
methods  of  the  barbarous  practices  of  native  midwifery, 
and  of  the  many  remediable  sufferings  of  their  own  sex. 

But  it  is  as  the  missionary'  physician,  "  the  Hakim 
in  Christ's  likeness,"  "  the  Hakim  with  the  Bible,"  that 


154  WOMAN  IN  MISSIONS. 

the  medical  missionary  follows  in  his  Master's  footsteps. 
He  must  subvert  worse  systems  even  than  those  of  the 
native  treatment  of  diseases.  In  the  dispensary,  'the 
home,  and  especially  in  the  hospital,  he  has  opportuni- 
ties which  fall  to  the  lot  of  no  other  of  awaking  a  sense 
of  the  disease  of  sin — of  sin  which  cannot  be  atoned  for 
by  penances,  pilgrimages,  or  gifts,  or  washed  away  by 
ceremonial  ablutions,  and  gentiy  opening  the  blind 
eyes  to  the  love  and  atonement  of  Him  whose  servant 
he  is.  In  Moslem  and  Buddhist  lands  the  evangelistic 
missionary  is  unsought,  unwelcomed,  shunned.  He 
must  create  his  work  by  slow  and  persevering  toil,  and 
at  the  best  he  rarely  reaches  the  undercurrents  of  the 
thought  and  life  of  the  people  among  whom  he  dwells. 
In  the  case  of  the  medical  missionary  the  work  seeks 
him,  claims  him,  pursues  him,  absorbs  him.  Crowds 
compelled  by  the  grip  of  pain  throng  round  him,  and 
as  soon  as  his  stammering  tongue  can  speak  of  Jesus 
his  audience  is  ready  to  listen.  Without  effort  he  learns 
the  inner  lives,  the  religious  ideas,  the  superstitions,  the 
social  difficulties,  the  criticisms  on  Christianity,  the 
pressure  of  circumstances,  the  ignorance  and  the  crav- 
ings of  all  classes,  and  some,  at  least,  of  those  who  have 
learned  to  love  and  trust  the  servant  are  won  to  love 
and  trust  the  Master. 

In  a  survey  of  many  mission  fields,,  and  of  vast, 
unevangelized  regions,  specially  in  Asia,  where  Chris- 
tianity comes  into  contact  with  Islam  and  the  higher 
philosophical,  non-Christian  systems,  I  have  come  to 
think  that  the  multiplication  of  male  and  female  medical 
missionaries  is  the  most  important  work  in  connection 
with  missions  which  lies  before  the  church,  as  well  as 
the  most   blessed  form   of  missionary  effort  to  which 


IMPORTANCE   OF   MEDICAL   MISSIONS.         1 55 

young  men  and  women  who  are  consecrated  to  foreign 
service  can  aspire. 

Bodily  suffering  and  spiritual  blindness  are  calling 
with  an  exceedingly  bitter  cry  for  the  healing  life-work 
of  consecrated  men  and  women,  but  the  need  can  be 
met  by  the  consecrated  alone.  For  the  half-hearted, 
the  indolent,  the  selfish,  the  doubting,  and  the  unloving 
there  is  no  call  and  no  room.  There  must  be  "  double 
quaHfications  " — intense  love  to  Christ,  and  intense  love 
for  those  for  whom  he  died.  In  conclusion,  I  desire  to 
emphasize  my  unqualified  testimony  to  the  value  and 
power  of  medical  missions.  To  my  thinking  none 
follow  more  closely  in  the  Master's  footprints  than  the 
medical  missionary,  and  in  no  work  are  the  higher 
teachings  of  Christianity  more  legible  and  easily  recog- 
nized. The  true  missionary-doctor  witnesses  by  his 
life-work  to  Christ  the  Healer,  and  is  an  epistle  of 
Christ,  translating  Christ's  love  and  teaching  into  object- 
lessons  which  all  can  understand.  Once  again  the 
lame  walk,  the  deaf  hear,  the  blind  see,  to  the  poor  the 
gospel  is  preached,  and  if  the  lepers  are  not  cleansed 
the  miseries  of  their  condition  are  greatly  mitigated. 
In  looking  back  upon  medical  missions  in  different 
parts  of  the  world  I  cannot  recall  one,  where  the  phys- 
ician was  truly  "  a  Hakim  in  Christ's  likeness,"  which 
was  not  healing,  helping,  blessing ;  making  an  end  of 
much  of  the  cruelty  which  proceeds  from  ignorance, 
softening  prejudices  against  Christianity,  opening 
closed  doors  for  the  Gospel,  and  while  pointing  to  the 
cross  which  is  elevated  for  "  the  healing  of  the  nations  " 
telling  in  every  work  of  love  and  of  consecrated  skill  of 
the  infinit  compassion  of  him  who  came  "  not  to  de- 
stroy men's  Hves,  but  to  save  them." 


T56  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 


T/OMAJSrS  MEDICAL  WORK  IN  MISSIONS. 

BY   MRS.   J.  T.    GRACEY. 

On  the  3d  of  November,  1869,  the  first  medical 
missionary  woman  sailed  from  New  York  for  the 
continent  of  Asia.  She  was  a  native  of  the  State  of 
New  York  and  a  graduate  of  the  Woman's  Medical 
College  of  Philadelphia.  She  reached  her  field  of 
labor  in  North  India,  January,  1870.  She  enjoyed 
the  honorable  distinction  not  only  of  being  the  pio- 
neer woman  physician  in  India,  but  the  first  woman 
physician  ever  sent  out  by  any  missionary  society  into 
any  part  of  the  non-Christian  world. 

Dr.  Swain  was  the  forerunner  of  a  company  of 
women  destined  in  a  new  manner  to  prepare  the  way 
of  the  Lord,  in  opening  the  homes  and  hearts  of 
heathendom.  She  stepped  out  to  inaugurate  one  of 
the  most  important  humane  efforts  of  this  century,  aye, 
of  any  century.  In  this,  as  in  all  great  reforms,  the 
Christian  Church  led  the  way.  The  story  of  woman's 
misery  and  suffering  had  been  wafted  across  the  sea, 
and  the  heart  of  Christian  womanhood  in  America 
had  been  deeply  touched  as  we  were  informed  that 
within  the  walls  of  palace  and  hut  were  women, 
tided  and  untitled,  some  glistening  with  gems,  others 
without  any  of  life's  comforts,  child-wife  and  child- 
widow,  pampered  queen  and  hungry  daughter,  proud 
mother  and  childless  wife,  who  in  hours  of  sickness 
and  suffering,  and  in  time  of  maternitv.  were  without 


woman's  medical  work  in  missions.     157 

proper  medical  care ;  or,  if  any  attention  was  given,  it 
was  by  ignorant  practitioners  who  judged  their  symp- 
toms from  hearsay,  and  who  knew  little  or  nothing  of 
the  anatomy  or  physiology  of  the  human  body.  The 
inexorable  laws  of  caste  and  custom  doomed  their 
miserable  victims  to  death  rather  than  admit  a  phy- 
sician within  the  precincts  of  their  guarded  seclusion, 
and  thus  hundreds,  and  even  thousands,  were  left  to 
suffer,  linger  and  die  as  the  beast  dieth.  It  became 
apparent  that  only  women  could  meet  this  great  em- 
ergency, and  it  was  providential  that  the  battle  for  the 
medical  education  of  women  had  been  fought  out,  quite 
apart  from  the  special  claims  of  missions,  so  that  when 
the  claims  came  to  be  recognized  a  few  were  ready  to 
respond. 

The  American  woman  has  had  this  and  many 
other  battles  to  fight  in  the  way  of  reforms'.  In  the 
forefront  of  this  great  pioneer  work  stands  the  name 
of  that  noble  woman,  Sarah  J.  Hale,  of  Philadelphia. 
It  was  she  who  thought  out  and  urged  upon  the 
churches  the  pressing  necessity  for  sending  medical 
wom.en  to  mission  fields.  She  wrote  editorials  on 
the  subject  of  woman's  medical  work,  for  Godey's 
Lady's  Book,  of  which  she  was  then  editor,  and  also 
communicated  with  eminent  clergymen  on  the  subject, 
many  of  whom  expressed  their  sympathy  with  the 
movement.  Two  young  women  offered  themselves  for 
the  work,  but  the  time  had  not  yet  come.  Mrs.  Hale 
in  her  plans  was  in  advance  of  the  sentiment  of  the 
time,  and  it  was  a  sad  disappointment  to  her  to  realize 
this.  But  she  lived  to  see  her  cherished  plans  executed 
some  twenty  years  afterwards,  and  well  does  the  writer 
remember  spending  a  morning  in  her  library  and  hear- 


158  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

ing  this  story  from  her  own  Hps,  and  her  expressions 
of  delight  that  her  purposes  were  about  to  be  reaHzed 
by  the  appointment  of  Dr.  Swain  to  India. 

Turning  from  this  initiatory  movement,  let  us  take 
a  glance  at  the  initiatory  movement  in  the  foreign  field. 
The  first  effort  in  the  direction  of  training  native  women 
in  medicine  was  made  by  Dr.  J.  L.  Humphrey,  a  med- 
ical missionary  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
stationed  in  Nainee  Tal,  India.  In  1867  he  began 
delivering  medical  lectures  to  a  class  of  young  women 
who  had  received  some  education  in  the  Girls'  Or- 
phanage at  Bareilly.  A  Uberal  minded  Hindoo,  faraiUar 
with  the  condition  of  his  countrywomen,  knowing 
something  of  the  suffering  that  ensued  from  malprac- 
tice of  the  ignorant,  superstitious  native  midwives  and 
the  hopeless  agony  of  women  stricken  down  by  disease, 
proposecf  to  Dr.  Humphrey  to  furnish  half  the  necessary 
funds,  to  develop  what  seemed  to  him  a  very  necessary 
work,  if  some  help  could  be  obtained  from  the  Gov- 
ernment. AppHcation  was  made  but  finally  with- 
drawn. The  time  had  not  fully  come  for  that  either : 
the  Government  could  not  see  the  necessity.  But  the 
missionary  did,  and  so  a  class  was  formed,  the  first  of 
its  kind  in  the  East,  in  Nainee  Tal,  May,  1869,  con- 
sisting of  nine  women.  Was  it  possible  for  Hindoo 
women,  so  long  oppressed  and  downtrodden,  without 
school,  or  college,  or  other  educational  advantage,  to 
comprehend  the  science  of  medicine?  Let  the  facts 
answer.  At  the  close  of  a  two  years'  course  of  study 
four  of  these  women,  after  examination  before  a  board 
of  English  physicians — one  of  them  the  Inspector 
General  of  hospitals — were  given  certificates  for  the 
treatment  of  all  ordinary  diseases.      The  victory  was 


WOMAN'S   MEDICAL  WORK  IN    MISSIONS.      1 59 

won  once  for  all.  That  certificate  meant  more  for 
India  and  for  the  world  of  heathen  women  than  the 
holders  themselves  thought  or  could  comprehend.  It 
meant  a  revolution  of  ideas,  plans  and  practices,  a  blow 
at  superstitions  hoary  with  age,  and  to  religious 
systems  long  opposed  to  the  benevolent  spirit  of 
Christianity. 

It  was  just  at  this  period  that  Dr.  Swain  arrived 
in  India.  Those  who  were  watching  the  movement 
at  home  wondered  if  the  doors  so  long  barred  would 
open  to  the  touch  of  a  stranger,  and  the  prejudices  of 
ages  give  way  to  the  ministrations  of  a  woman  of  an- 
other nationahty.  She  at  once  commenced  her  work 
by  establishing  a  dispensary  and  forming  a  medical 
class,  consisting  of  fourteen  girls,  and  was  called  at 
once  to  visit  women  and  children  of  all  classes  of 
society,  treating  in  her  first  few  weeks  one  hundred 
and  eight  patients. 

Next  came  the  necessity  for  a  hospital,  which  was 
met  by  the  generosity  of  a  native  Mohammedan  prince, 
by  the  gift  of  a  property  worth  some  $15,000.  Repairs 
were  made  on  the  house,  and  on  January  i,  1874,  this 
first  hospital  for  the  women  of  the  Orient  was  open 
and  ready  to  receive  patients.  Auspicious  day  !  Like 
doves  to  the  windows  the  women  flocked  to  the  hos- 
pital and  dispensary,  Hindoos,  Mohammedans  and 
Christians.  Cards  were  printed  in  three  different 
languages,  bearing  a  verse  of  the  blessed  Bible,  so 
that  every  patient  received  with  her  prescription  some 
word  about  the  great  Healer  of  souls.  The  women 
were  captured.  "  May  I  not  come  here  and  stay 
awhile  every  year  even  if  I  am  not  sick  ?"  said  one  of 
the   patients.     "  Let   me   stay,"    said   another,  "  for    I 


l6o  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

would  like  to  walk  out  in  this  beautiful  garden ;  I 
cannot  walk  out  at  home,  for  my  friends  say  I  am 
very  bad  if  I  do."  The  work  thus  auspiciously  in- 
augurated commanded  the  attention  of  other  missionary 
societies,  and  the  trained  physician  soon  became  a 
necessity  in  every  well-equipped  mission  in  India. 

The  experience  of  missionaries  in  China  was  iden- 
tical with  that  of  their  fellow-workers  in  India.  The 
importunate  cry  came  for  medical  workers  from  that 
old  empire,  and  the  women  of  Methodism,  who  had 
inaugurated  this  movement  in  India,  were  able  to  do 
the  same  for  China.  Dr.  Combs,  a  resident  of  Phil- 
adelphia, and  graduate  of  the  Woman's  College  in 
that  city,  was  selected,  and  reaching  Peking,  the  cap- 
ital, in  the  fall  of  1873,  opened  the  first  hospital  for 
women  in  1875.  The  story  is  familiar  to  all  conver- 
sant with  missionary  work,  how  Dr.  Howard,  a  grad- 
uate of  Ann  Arbor,  who  had  joined  Dr.  Combs,  was 
called  from  Peking  to  Tientsin  to  attend  Lady  Li, 
wife  of  China's  prime  minister,  and  how  it  resulted  in 
opening  official  doors  to  th.e  missionary  and  physi- 
cian. No  restraint  was  put  on  Christian  work,  and 
Lady  Li  contributed  liberally  toward  the  expenses  of 
establishing  a  woman's  hospital. 

It  was  a  suggestive  fact  that  one  of  the  finest 
heathen  temples  in  the  city  was  devoted  to  distinc- 
tively Christian  medical  work.  Dr.  Howard  was  called 
to  attend  the  mother  of  Li  Hung  Chang,  an  aged  wo- 
man, who  died  and  left  $1,000  for  Dr.  Howard's  work  : 
the  first  bequest  of  a  Chinese  woman  to  Christian 
benevolence.  We  cannot  trace  the  history  of  this 
movement  in  China  further  than  to  say  that  it  seemed 
to  meet   a  great   need,  and   the  woman  physician  is 


woman's  medical  work  in  missions.     i6i 

found  to-day  in  many  of  the  large  cities  of  the  empire,. 
winning  the  hearts  of  Chinese  women  by  the  irresist- 
ible arguments  of  personal  kindness  and  skilful  medi- 
cal treatment.  The  dispensary  and  hospital,  or  its 
equivalent,  a  woman's  ward,  became  a  necessity,  and 
these  are  found  wherever  the  medical  missionary  is 
found.  Some  of  these  have  been  endowed  by  a  single 
person :  as  the  Isabella  Fisher  Hospital  in  Tientsin, 
1 88 1,  by  a  Baltimore  woman,  by  the  gift  of  $5,000; 
the  Woman's  Pavilion  in  Peking,  by  an  Albany  wo- 
man, by  donating  $3,000 ;  the  hospital  of  the  Union 
Missionary  Society  at  Shanghai,  where  land,  building, 
furnishing,  instruments,  and  the  salary  of  a  physician 
and  nurse  for  some  years  were  provided  for  at  an 
expense  of  $35,000  by  the  munificence  of  Mrs.  Mar- 
garet Williamson  of  New  York,  for  whom  the  hospital 
is  named.  Others  are  supported  by  societies,  such  as 
the  one  in  Canton,  and  the  Woolston  Memorial  in 
Foochow.  The  United  States  may  exclude  the  Chi- 
nese from  her  borders,  and  the  Chinese  may  send  all 
Americans  out  of  their  country,  but  above  and  beyond 
all  political  complications  these  hospitals  will  stand  as 
monuments  of  the  love  and  devotion  of  American 
Christian  women  for  Chinese  women. 

No  more  convincing  proof  of  the  divine  origin 
and  truth  of  our  religion  can  be  given  than  these 
benevolent  institutions  everywhere  estabhshed  through- 
out the  heathen  world. 

Medical  work  was  the  key  that  first  opened  Korea 
to  the  entrance  of  the  gospel.  Koreans  have  said  that 
"  even  stone,  wood  and  animals  have  had  their  feel- 
ings aroused"  by  the  benefits  of  medical  missions  in 
their  country.     Koreans  follow  their  own  sweet  will  in 

Woman  In  Mlssiona.  J  J 


l62  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

taking  medicine,  on  the  principle  that  if  a  little  medi- 
cine is  good,  taken  three  or  four  times  a  day,  then  how 
much  better  to  take  the  entire  bottle-full  in  half  the 
allotted  time,  or  all  at  once !  The  Presbyterian  Church 
sent  the  first  medical  woman  to  Korea,  who  had  the 
post  of  physician  to  the  queen.  She  reached  Seoul  in 
1886.  A  representative  of  the  Woman's  Foreign  Mis- 
sionary Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
followed  in  1887,  and  soon  in  that  old  hermit  nation  a 
woman's  hospital  was  erected.  As  soon  as  the  king 
heard  that  such  a  buiL'.ing  had  been  opened  for  the 
relief  of  the  suffering  women  of  his  country  he  showed 
his  appreciation  by  sending  through  his  foreign  office 
a  name  painted  in  royal  colors  to  be  hung  on  the  gate, 
so  that  all  persons  would  know  the  institution  had  the 
king's  hearty  approval. 

As  the  women  of  Japan  are  not  secluded,  and  are 
accessible  to  the  ordinary  physician,  there  is  not  the 
same  need  for  the  woman  physician  as  in  some  other 
nations.  In  Kyoto  a  hospital  and  training-school  for 
nurses  constitute  a  branch  of  the  Doshisha  University. 
An  American  woman  is  at  the  head  of  this  training- 
school.  There  are  throughout  the  world  360  medical 
missionaries,  of  whom  80  are  wom.en.  These  medical 
women  are  now  to  be  found  in  Turkey,  China,  India, 
Burmah,  Ceylon,  Korea,  Persia,  Egypt,  Syria,  Japan, 
Micronesia,  and  Africa,  representing  the  following  mis- 
sionary societies :  Woman's  Board,  Presbyterian,  Meth- 
odist Episcopal,  Baptist,  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
South,  Woman's  Union,  Protestant  Episcopal,  Lutheran, 
Southern  Presbyterian,  Seventh  Day  Baptist,  United 
Brethren,  Friends,  Cumberland  Presbyterian,  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Canada.  Presbyterian  Church  of  Ire- 


woman's  medical  work  in  missions.    163 

land,  Wesleyan,  Church  of  England,  Free  Church  of 
Scotland,  Zenana  Bible  and  Medical  Missionary  So- 
ciety of  London,  British  Syrian  Mission,  and  Society 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel.  The  Presbyterian 
Church  (North)  has  the  largest  number  in  the  field : 
10  in  China,  i  in  Japan,  2  in  Korea,  3  in  India,  4  in 
Persia,  and  i  in  Syria — making  21. 

Miss  Eddy,  of  this  Society,  daughter  of  a  Syrian 
missionary,  having  graduated  last  spring  at  the  New 
York  College,  has  spent  several  years  in  fitting  herself 
for  medical  work  among  the  women  of  Syria.  She  is 
the  first  woman  to  take  the  complete  course  of  study 
under  Dr.  Herman  Knapp,  the  celebrated  oculist,  and 
is  the  first  medical  woman  in  that  field. 

Dr.  Mary  Bradford,  of  Persia,  also  connected  with 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  has  had  a  remarkable  record. 
During  the  past  year  she  stood  heroically  at  her  post 
in  the  midst  of  cholera  epidemic.  All  Europeans  had 
fled  from  the  city;  hotels,  banks  and  telegraph-offices 
were  closed ;  but  the  American  lady  doctor  remained. 
The  Armenian  Khalifa,  or  archbishop,  who  had  been 
an  inveterate  enemy  of  missionaries,  opposing  their 
work  and  denouncing  them  everywhere,  was  taken 
sick  with  the  cholera  and  sent  for  the  missionary  doc- 
tor. Miss  Bradford  did  not  hesitate  for  a  moment. 
She  magnanimously  forgot  the  man's  previous  animos- 
ity and  hastened  to  his  bedside.  She  succeeded  in 
arresting  the  disease.  Her  skill  and  care  are  given 
equally  to  the  wife  of  the  Shah  and  to  the  poorest 
peasant  woman. 

The  Woman's  Board  has  eight  physicians,  located 
as  follows :  2  in  Japan,  i  in  India  —  Dr.  Root,  who 
in  one  year  treated  over   19,000  cases — and  another 


164  WOMAN  IN  MISSIONS. 

under  appointment  for  India ;  i  in  China  and  another 
accepted  for  China,  and  2  in  Turkey.  Two  other 
names  not  found  in  the  list  of  missionaries  deserve 
mention  :  Dr.  Caroline  Hamilton,  a  graduate  of  the 
New  York  Medical  College,  and  afterwards  an  instruc- 
tor in  the  institution,  is  a  resident  physician  in  Aintab 
College,  supported  by  the  generosity  of  a  woman  in 
this  country.  She  cooperates  in  missionary  work. 
Dr.  Gurubai  Karmarkar,  who  came  from  Bombay, 
graduated  from  the  college  in  Philadelphia,  and  after  a 
year  at  hospital  work  has  returned  to  India  to  practise 
among  her  countrywomen,  and  is  said  to  be  a  good 
physician  and  devoted  Christian  woman.  One  of  the 
physicians  of  this  Board  is  occupying  a  peculiarly  iso- 
lated outpost,  in  Kalgan,  on  the  borders  of  Mongolia  ; 
and  in  addition  to  these  the  American  Board  has  one 
in  North  China  and  one  in  Ceylon. 

The  Baptist  Board  has  nine  medical  missionaries  : 
two  in  India,  two  in  China,  five  in  Burmah.  Four  of 
these  are  under  the  Western  section  and  five  under  the 
Eastern  Board. 

The  Methodist  Board  has  fourteen,  located  as  fol- 
lows :  three  in  Tientsin,  one  in  Tsunhwa,  three  in  Foo- 
chow  and  one  in  Chinkiang,  China,  five  in  India  and 
one  in  Seoul,  Korea. 

These  physicians  are  ministering  annually  to  about 
half  a  million  of  native  women. 

In  England  a  somewhat  different  course  has  been 
pursued.  In  the  early  history  of  this  work  women  were 
sent  out  with  only  a  partial  medical  training.  This  led 
to  considerable  discussion  and  the  request  from  mis- 
sionary societies  that  only  fully  qualified  physicians  be 
sent.     Only  in  January  last  a  Medical  Missionary  Con- 


woman's  medical  work  in  missions.   165 

ference  was  held  in  Bombay  at  which  resolutions  were 
passed  emphasizing  the  fact  that  every  medical  mis- 
sionary should  be  thoroughly  equipped  professionally, 
and,  as  this  work  is  only  a  means  to  an  end,  the  spirit- 
ual work  should  be  kept  always  prominent. 

Woman's  medical  movement  in  England  owes  its 
origin  to  the  efforts  of  Dr.  William  Elmslie,  the  first 
medical  missionary  to  Kashmir.  After  spending  some 
years  in  that  country  Dr.  Elmslie  returned  to  England 
in  1870  greatly  impressed  with  the  importance  of  secu- 
ring medical  aid  for  women.  He  agitated  the  subject 
in  his  public  addresses  and  through  the  press. 

The  Indian  Female  Normal  School  Society  printed 
a  statement,  concerning  the  great  needs,  which  fell  into 
the  hands  of  Miss  Fanny  J.  Butler,  who  had  for  some 
time  cherished  a  desire  for  medical  work.  She  offered 
herself  and  was  accepted,  and  immediately  entered  the 
London  School  of  Medicine,  just  then  transferred  from 
Edinburgh.  She  was  the  first  enrolled  student.  The 
second  was  Miss  Jane  Waterson,  who  is  now  laboring 
in  South  Africa,  sent  out  by  the  Church  of  Scodand. 
To  Miss  Butler  belongs  the  honor  of  being  the  first 
fully  qualified  English  medical  woman  sent  to  a  foreign 
field.  She  was  sent  to  Bhagalpur,  where  she  spent  six 
years,  then  was  transferred  to  Kashmir,  where  she  gave 
her  life  for  the  women.  Mrs.  Isabella  Bird  Bishop,  who 
visited  her  in  her  isolated  home,  says  :  "  Just  before 
the  death  of  Dr.  Fanny  Butler  it  was  a  terrible  sight  to 
see  the  way  in  which  the  women  pressed  upon  her  at 
the  dispensary  door,  which  was  kept  by  two  men  out- 
side and  another  inside.  The  crush  was  so  great  as 
sometimes  to  overpower  the  men  and  precipitate  the 
women   bodily  into  "the  consulting  room.     The  evil 


1 66  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

odors,  the  heat,  the  unsanitary  conditions  in  which 
Miss  Buder  did  her  noble  work  of  healing  and  telling 
of  the  Healer  of  souls  were,  I  believe,  the  cause  of  the 
sacrifice  of  her  life." 

In  London,  at  present,  there  are  twenty-six  wo- 
men, in  Edinburgh  twenty-two,  and  in  Glasgow  eigh- 
teen, or  sixty-six  in  all,  who  are  studying  medicine  for 
the  foreign  field ;  and  in  the  field  now,  holding  full 
British  qualifications,  are  nineteen  women,  of  whom 
sixteen  are  in  India,  two  in  China,  and  one  in  Korea. 

WHAT    HAVE   BEEN    SOME  RESULTS    OF   WOMAN'S 
MEDICAL   WORK? 

A  Hindoo  recently  stated  one  of  the  results  clearly 
in  a  conversation  with  a  missionary  when  he  said, 
"  What  we  dread  is  the  presence  of  your  Christian 
women,  for  they  are  winning  our  homes,  and  of  your 
Christian  physicians,  for  they  are  winning  our  hearts." 
Through  the  humane  and  Christ-like  spirit  of  this  work 
many  are  brought  under  the  influence  of  Christianity. 

On  the  mountains  overlooking  the  Dead  Sea  is 
the  turbulent,  half-rebellious,  city  of  Kerak.  A  few 
years  ago  Mr.  Lethaby,  an  uneducated  and  poor  lay- 
man, was  sent  there.  He  was  abused,  threatened, 
and  would  have  been  killed  long  ago  but  for  his  heroic 
wife,  who,  although  not  having  a  medical  education, 
had  knowledge  enough  to  treat  simple  diseases,  and  so 
ingratiated  herself  with  the  people  that  they  protect 
her  and  her  husband  where  no  foreigner,  nor  even  an 
official  of  the  Turkish  Government,  would  be  safe. 
And  there  she  has  labored  for  body  and  soul  together, 
cut  off  from  the  world,  but  in  direct  communication 
with  heaven. 


woman's  medical  work  in  missions.    167 

Medical  work  has  been  a  spur  to  the  higher  edu- 
cation of  women.  It  has  given  woman  a  higher  ideal 
of  life,  for  every  one  treated  in  a  hospital  learns  some- 
thing of  cleanliness  and  care  of  the  sick,  and  carries 
away  a  treasure  of  new  ideas  which  cannot  fail  to 
bring  comfort  and  health  to  cheerless  homes.  This 
work  has  also  developed  the  medical  and  training- 
school  on  native  soil  and  given  employment  for  native 
Christian  girls  and  women. 

Admission  for  female  students  was  asked  for  in 
the  Indian  medical  colleges.  The  universities,  led  by 
that  of  Madras,  opened  their  doors  to  medical  students, 
who  were  welcomed  and  treated  with  uniform  respect 
by  students  and  professors,  native  as  well  as  foreign — 
"a  fact,"  says  Bishop  Thoburn,  "gratefully  recorded 
in  view  of  the  very  different  treatment  women  have 
received  from  Western  medical  colleges."  In  the 
medical  school  established  in  1884  at  Agra,  an  insti- 
tution belonging  to  the  Government  of  India  but  un- 
der missionary  direction,  many  women  from  mission 
schools  have  taken  a  course  of  medicine  and  gradua- 
ted with  honor.  Interest  in  this  movement  so  developed 
that  scholarships  were  offered  by  missionary  societies, 
and  non-Christian  municipal  boards  made  appropria- 
tions ;  native  princes,  also,  have  promised  support,  and 
offered  large  salaries  to  women  students  on  condition 
they  would  give  a  number  of  years  to  practice  in  their 
dominions.  Seven-eighths  of  the  students  here  are 
Christian  women.  One  of  the  first  to  graduate  was  a 
Hindoo  widow,  who  passed  a  fine  examination  and 
stood  first  among  the  women  of  her  class. 

In  the  history  of  the  Methodist  Mission  in  India 
a  litde  waif  of  a  girl  was  picked  up  and  taken  to  the 


l68  WOMAN  IN   MISSIONS. 

Girls'  Orphanage  in  Bareilly.  The  support  of  this 
child  was  assumed  by  some  friends  in  New  York. 
With  proper  care  she  developed  physically,  and  was 
put  in  school,  became  a  bright  student,  and  having 
finished  the  prescribed  course  was  selected  as  one  to 
enter  the  Agra  school  as  a  medical  student.  She 
graduated  at  the  head  of  her  class,  and  was  so  pro- 
ficient that  her  case  was  noticed  by  the  India  secular 
papers.  She  was  selected  to  take  charge  of  the  wo- 
man's department  of  a  Government  hospital  and  has 
now  been  in  charge  about  two  years,  and  the  Eng- 
lish surgeon  inspecting  her  work  acknowledged  that 
her  hospital  was  one  of  the  best  conducted  institu- 
tions in  Northern  India.  Could  the  most  sanguine 
have  imagined  that  in  twenty-five  years  there  should 
be  such  a  revolution  in  sentiment  that  a  native  Chris- 
tian woman  should  occupy  such  a  position  ! 

Another  result  has  been  the  awakening  of  a  de- 
sire on  the  part  of  women  both  in  China  and  India  to 
come  out  from  their  surroundings,  to  see  something 
of  the  great  world,  that  they  might  secure  better  ad- 
vantages. Among  this  number,  Mrs.  Josee,  a  Brah- 
min woman,  broke  away  from  all  her  associations, 
social  and  religious,  and  came  to  America.  She 
graduated  at  the  Philadelphia  Medical  College  in  i8S6, 
the  first  Hindoo  graduate  of  a  medical  college.  She 
returned  home  and  was  under  appointment  by  the . 
court  of  the  native  State  of  Kolapore  as  resident 
physician  in  the  women's  ward  of  the  Albert  Edward 
Hospital :  but  the  rigorous  climate  of  our  country 
had  been  too  severe,  and  she  died  on  the  threshold  of 
what  many  hoped  would  be  a  brilliant  career. 

Another  native   of  India,  Miss  Jaganadham,  has 


WOMAN'S   MEDICAL  WORK  IN   MISSIONS.     169 

recently  completed  her  studies  in  Scotland  with  dis- 
tinguished honors  and  spent  two  years  in  a  school 
of  surgery,  and  has  been  appointed  by  the  Indian 
Government  as  the  head  of  the  Woman's  Hospital  in 
Bombay. 

The  first  g^rl  brought  up  by  her  own  parents  in 
all  Central  and  Western  China  with  unbound  feet, 
daughter  of  a  Bible  woman,  is  now  a  medical  student  in 
the  University  of  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan ;  and  Miss  Hu 
King  Eng,  of  Foochow,  daughter  of  a  native  clergy- 
man, is  about  completing  her  studies  in  the  Phil- 
adelphia College,  expecting  to  return  to  her  native 
country  to  practise. 

Medical  work  has  awakened  among  wealthy 
natives  a  desire  to  aid  it  by  their  contributions.  A  few 
years  ago  a  wealthy  Parsee  in  Bombay  gave  $50,000  to 
build  a  hospital  for  women  and  children.  An  Indian 
woman  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Government 
$60,000  for  carrying  on  women's  medical  work  in  the 
Province  of  Bengal.  Another  has  donated  six  thou- 
sand dollars  for  the  erection  of  a  hospital  for  women  at 
Balermpore.     Other  cases  might  be  mentioned. 

One  of  the  greatest  results  has  been  the  develop- 
ment of  the  National  Association  for  Supplying  Female 
Medical  Aid  for  the  Women  of  India,  popularly 
known  as  the  "  Lady  Dufferin  "  movement.  There  is 
a  touch  of  romance  in  the  story  of  its  beginnings.  In 
the  year  1881  a  medical  woman  from  the  city  of  Luck- 
now  was  called  to  Poona  to  attend  the  wife  of  a  native 
prince.  The  physician  remained  with  her  royal  patient 
for  several  weeks,  and  through  her  skill  and  care  the 
princess  recovered.  When  about  to  leave  the  princess 
requested  a  private  interview,  and  said,  "  You  are  in- 


I/O  WOMAN  IN   MISSIONS. 

tending  to  go  to  England,  and  I  want  you  to  tell  the 
Queen,  the  prince  and  princess  of  Wales  and  the 
men  and  women  of  England  what  the  women  of 
India  suffer  when  they  are  sick.  Will  you  promise 
me?"  She  then  requested  the  physician  to  write  the 
message,  and  write  it  small,  "for"  said  she,  "  I  want  to 
put  it  in  a  locket,  and  you  are  to  wear  it  around  your 
neck  until  you  see  our  great  empress,  and  you  are  to 
give  it  to  her  yourself;  you  are  not  to  send  it  by  an- 
other." Having  suffered  herself,  and  carrying  on  her  bur- 
dened heart  the  suffering  of  her  sisters,  she  was  intensely 
in  earnest  that  her  message  should  be  heeded.  Weeks 
rolled  on,  and  the  missionary  physician  reached  Eng- 
land :  she  had  the  privilege  of  an  interview  with  the 
Queen,  and  delivered  the  locket  with  its  precious  mes- 
sage. Her  Majesty  was  profoundly  impressed,  and 
promised  that  something  should  be  done,  exclaiming, 
"  We  had  no  idea  it  was  as  bad  as  this !"  This  was 
just  at  the  time  Lord  Dufferin  was  appointed  Governor 
General  of  India.  The  Queen  had  an  interview  with 
Lady  Dufferin  and  impressed  upon  her  the  importance 
of  making  an  effort  to  give  medical  help  to  the  wo- 
men. As  soon  as  she  reached  India  she  conferred 
with  prominent  women  as  to  the  advisability  of  such 
a  scheme  and  drew  up  a  prospectus,  which  was  tran- 
slated into  several  dialects  and  sent  through  the  coun- 
try. The  appeal  was  favorably  received,  and  in 
time  the  Association  was  formed.  Its  object  is  to 
provide  tuition  and  medical  relief  by  supplying  med- 
ical missionaries,  trained  nurses,  and  the  establish- 
ment, under  female  superintendence,  of  dispensaries 
and  cottage  hospitals  for  the  treatment  of  women  and 
children.      The  cause  has   been  espoused  with  great 


WOMAN'S   MEDICAL  WORK  IN   MISSIONS.     171 

enthusiasm,  and  liberal  contributions  have  been  made 
for  its  support. 

The  Association  is  philanthropic,  not  missionary, 
as  its  employees  are  pledged  not  to  interfere  in  any  way 
with  the  religious  beliefs  of  the  patients ;  but,  religiously 
neutral  as  it  is,  it  depends  largely  for  its  success  on 
Christian  women,  for  only  girls  that  had  been  educated 
in  the  various  mission  schools  were  found  prepared  to 
avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity  offered.  The  funds 
of  this  association  now  amount  to  nearly  half  a  million 
of  dollars,  by  means  of  which  one  hundred  and  three 
well-qualified  physicians  are  kept  at  work,  and  about 
two  hundred  and  forty  more  are  studying  medicine  in 
India  and  England.  About  half  a  million  women 
receive  help  through  this  agency.  Forty-eight  hos- 
pitals and  dispensaries,  nine  of  which  are  in  native 
states,  are  supported,  and  thirteen  physicians  are  in 
charge. 

Another  result  has  been  the  creation  of  a  sentiment 
by  this  work  throughout  India  which  has  led  to  the 
modification  of  the  marriage  laws.  Such  revelations  of 
inhumanity  connected  with  child  marriages  were 
brought  to  light  that  one  of  the  physicians  connected 
with  the  Methodist  Church  drew  up  a  petition,  which 
was  signed  by  fifty-five  women  physicians  and  pre- 
sented to  the  Government,  pleading  that  the  marriage- 
able age  of  girls  be  raised  to  fourteen  years.  While 
the  Government  was  flooded  with  petitions  and  memo- 
rials from  native  Christians,  Hindoo  women,  and  Mis- 
sionaries, it  is  stated  that  nearly  all  the  speakers  in  the 
Legislative  Council  referred  to  the  facts  presented  in 
this  memorial — which  had  great  influence  in  bringing 
about  the  change,  and  raising  the  age  to  twelve  years ; 


172  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

time,  not  all  that  was  asked  was  gained,  but  this  was 
undoubtedly  the  most  important  step  taken  in  the  do- 
mestic and  social  life  of  the  people  since  the  abolish- 
ment of  suttee  in  1829. 

The  influence  of  this  work  is  permeating  all  lands. 
Dr.  Post,  of  Syria,  says,  "  In  Beirut  a  hospital  for 
certain  diseases  of  women  has  been  opened  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  Government.  In  Bethlehem  and  Jerusa- 
lem, around  which  cluster  so  many  sacred  associations, 
the  woman  physician  is  found  administering  to  hun- 
dreds and  thousands  of  patients. 

"  Not  far  from  the  reputed  house  of  Simon  the 
Tanner  is  a  stately  stone  building,  one  of  the  finest 
in  Jaffa.  It  is  the  hospital  for  which  the  late  Miss 
Mangan  gave  her  energies  while  living.  In  her  effort 
to  overcome  the  opposition  of  the  authorities  to 
this  most  benevolent  work  she  died,  a  martyr  to  her 
zeal." 

Within  a  few  years  the  usefulness  of  nurses  and 
their  peculiar  access  to  the  sick  have  attracted  the  at- 
tention of  a  number  of  consecrated  women  of  means. 
Mrs.  Merdith's  far-reaching  vision  has  looked  across 
the  oceans,  and  she  has  met  a  long  felt  want  by  estab- 
lishing a  nurses'  institution  in  Jerusalem  from  which 
she  proposes  to  supply  attendants  for  the  poor  gratuit- 
ously, and  at  moderate  rates  for  those  able  to  pay. 
Miss  Bouchart,  of  Damascus,  a  lady  of  fortune  and 
large-hearted  benevolence,  personally  conducts  a  most 
useful  work  of  this  kind  in  Damascus.  She  has  under 
her  direction  a  native  physician,  a  graduate  of  the  Bei- 
rut College,  a  thoroughly  trained  nurse,  to  attend  to 
this  department  of  work." 

Not  only  does  medical  work  open  the  homes  and 


WOMAN'S  MEDICAL  WORK  IN   MISSIONS.     1 73 

hearts  of  the  inmates  to  the  preaching  of  Christ,  it  does 
much  in  removing  opposition  on  the  part  of  male  rela- 
tives and  friends,  and  so  becomes  a  valuable  adjunct  to 
other  departments  of  mission  work.  It  gives  practical 
demonstration  of  the  difference  between  Christianity 
and  false  religions. 

An  Indian  paper,  commenting  on  a  successful  op- 
eration performed  by  a  lady  physician  in  the  city  of 
Lucknow,  said,  "  The  age  of  miracles  is  not  past,  for 
Jesus  Christ  is  still  working  miracles  through  the  lady 
doctors." 

No  wonder  that  in  our  station  at  China  they  called 
the  one  who  had  so  wonderfully  helped  them  "  a  living 
Buddha ;"  and  in  another  place  an  engraving  was  made 
of  a  surgical  operation,  and  published  in  one  of  their 
papers,  as  an  illustrated  account  of  the  foreign  lady's 
amazing  skill.  In  the  city  of  Foochow  it  was  with 
difficulty  the  physician  could  prevent  the  people  from 
falling  down  and  worshipping  her  as  she  passed  through 
the  streets.  These  heroic  women,  who  have  gone  from 
homes  of  culture  and  Christian  surroundings,  have 
braved  many  dangers,  faced  infection  in  all  forms,  been 
exposed  to  all  weathers,  have  come  in  contact  with  idol- 
atrous rites,  have  had  their  sensibiHties  shocked  by  the 
inhumanity  of  humanity,  have  performed  the  duties  not 
only  of  physician,  but  of  nurse  and  cook ;  with  loving 
sympathy  they  have  administered  to  all  castes  and  con- 
ditions, have  given  heathen  women  a  loftier  conception 
of  womanhood  and  motherhood,  have  comforted  the 
living,  and  spoken  tender  and  loving  words  to  the 
dying. 

In  the  city  of  Calcutta  a  native  woman  was  ill  in 
one  of  the  hospitals.     Her  mind  wandered,  and  she  was 


174  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

heard  to  say  pathetically,  "  I  am  sitting  on  the  sea- 
shore, a  storm  is  approaching,  the  tide  is  rising.  My 
mind  is  troubled.  Alas  !  I  shall  perish."  She  regained 
consciousness  to  find  beside  her  a  "  beloved  physician," 
who  with  loving  words  pointed  her  to  a  "  refuge  in  the 
time  of  storm." 

Thus   the  Orient  feels  the  touch    of   the   Divine 
Healer. 


ENGLISH    METHODIST   DEACONESSES.        1 75 


THE  WORK  OF  DSACOKBSSES. 

METHODIST  DEACONESSES  IN  ENG- 
LAND. 

BY   "  SISTER  DORA  "   STEPHENSON. 

Much  is  heard  in  the  present  day  about  woman's 
sphere  and  woman's  rights.  In  the  olden  days,  when 
the  master  hved  among  his  men,  when  the  lord  of 
the  manor  was  the  head  of  the  clan  and  the  father 
of  his  people,  there  was  ample  employment  for  the 
women  in  their  homes.  The  flax  had  to  be  spun,  the 
linen  woven,  the  tapestry  hangings  embroidered,  the 
bread  baked,  the  household  supplies  repleted  by  the 
women  of  the  family ;  with  her  own  fair  hand  the  lady — 
the  loaf-giver — distributed  at  her  own  gate  the  doles 
which  helped  the  poor  and  the  sick  on  her  estate. 

But  things  have  changed.  The  introduction  of 
machinery  has  brought  about  a  new  order.  The  capi- 
talist Hves  away  from  his  workshop  in  his  pleasant 
suburban  home ;  the  relationship  between  him  and  his 
employee  is  purely  a  business  one :  the  men  are  "  hands." 
The  thought  that  his  wealth  and  privilege  imply  a 
duty  to  the  bodies  and  souls  of  his  workers,  and  that 
he  should  be  to  them  a  friend  and  adviser,  has  almost 
gone. 

And  the  women  of  the  household — the  ladies  of 
the  land— have  Htde  occupation  for  heart  or  hand,  and 


176  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

SO  spend  their  lives  too  often  in  a  vain  endeavor  to 
"  kill  time." 

But  there  are  many  women  who  yearn  after  a 
higher  life — women  whose  hearts  go  out  to  the  op- 
pressed and  miserable  and  who  long  to  devote  their 
time  to  the  amelioration  of  human  wretchedness.  Most 
of  all  is  this  true  of  the  Christian  woman  who  feels  it 
the  great  debt  she  owes  to  her  Saviour,  who  has  re- 
deemed her  from  the  life  of  a  slave  and  placed  her  by 
the  side  of  man  as  friend  and  co-worker. 

To-day  the  women  of  all  the  churches  are  en- 
tering different  branches  of  service,  and  great  re- 
sults have  already  been  obtained  by  those  who  give 
their  spare  time  to  good  works  along  different  Unes. 
The  Woman's  Home  and  Foreign  Missionary  Societies 
are  sending  light  and  healing  to  their  unenlightened 
sisters  at  home  and  abroad.  Women  are  to  the  front 
in  the  advancement  of  temperance  and  social  purity, 
and  of  preventive  work  of  all  sorts  among  the  young. 

But  the  need  of  consecrated  helpers  is  so  great  that 
it  was  felt  in  England  that  the  time  had  come  when 
women  should  be  asked  to  give  not  only  some  time, 
but  their  whole  time  to  this  work  ;  and  in  response  to 
this  call,  developing  slowly  through  twenty  years,  our 
Methodist  Deaconesses  have  answered. 

WHAT    IS    A   DEACONESS? 

As  her  name  implies,  she  is  a  servant — a  servant 
in  a  three-fold  capacity.     She  is 

1.  The  servant  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

2.  The  servant  of  the  poor,  the  sick,  the  children 
and  the  lost,  for  Christ's  sake. 

3.  The  servant  each  of  the  other. 


ENGLISH   METHODIST  DEACONESSES.        1 77 

She  is  not  a  substitute.  The  ladies  of  the  church- 
es must  not  think  that  she  is  to  take  their  place.  They 
will  be  needed  as  much  as  ever  to  carry  on  the 
good  work  to  which  they  have  devoted  themselves. 
Rather  they  must  rally  around  her,  "  hold  up  her 
hands ;"  and  probably  in  turn  they  will  find,  with  her, 
fresh  fields  in  which  their  energies  may  have  scope,  and 
take  fresh  impetus  from  her  enthusiasm  and  experi- 
ence. 

Neither  is  the  deaconess  a  proxy.  She  is  no  paid 
servant  of  the  church,  hired  by  some  lady  or  ladies  to 
do  the  difficult  work  from  which  they  shrink,  and  whose 
hire  serves  as  a  salve  to  a  troubled  conscience.  She  is 
a  servant — a  bond-servant — but  a  servant  of  the  Christ 
to  whom  she  owes  and  gives  her  all. 

There  are  certain  things  which  distinguish  the 
deaconess  from  other  workers  : 

First.  She  believes  herself  called  of  God  to  her 
work,  and  believes  she  has  a  vocation,  though  no  vow 
is  demanded  or  given. 

Second.  She  is  a  trained  worker. 

Third.  She  serves  a  long  probation. 

Fourth.  She  is  formally  set  apart  to  her  work  in  a 
solemn  dedication  service. 

Fifth.  She  lives  usually  in  a  community,  or  Dea- 
coness Home. 

Sixth.  She  is  an  unsalaried  worker.  She  is  sup- 
ported, if  necessary,  but  is  never  paid  for  her  services. 

Generally  she  wears  a  simple  uniform  dress ;  but 
this  is  not  deemed  absolutely  essential,  though  most 
desirable. 

If  we  were  considering  the  question  of  deacon- 
esses in  general,  in  England,  one  would  be  glad  to  say 

Woman  In  Missions.  J  2 


178  WOMAN   IN    MISSIONS. 

much  of  the  grand  institution  at  Mildmay,  which  is 
allied  closely,  though  in  no  narrow,  sectarian  spirit, 
with  the  Evangelical  party  in  the  Established  Church 
of  England.  And,  again,  mention  should  be  made  of 
the  good  work  done  by  the  Deaconess  Institute  founded 
by  Dr.  Lazeron  at  Tottenham,  which  is  identified  with 
Evangelical  Nonconformity.  From  both  these  institu- 
tions streams  of  blessing  have  flowed  which  have  surely 
been  "  for  the  healing  of  the  nation ;"  and  one  would 
like  to  linger  on  details  of  their  work.  But  it  is  of  the 
Methodist  Deaconesses  we  are  now  especially  thinking, 
and  some  little  knowledge  of  the  growtli  of  this  order 
may  be  interesting  and  profitable. 

It  was  among  the  children  that  our  Methodist 
Deaconesses  in  England  began  their  labors.  Twenty- 
four  years  ago  the  Children's  Home,  Orphanage  and 
Refuge  was  founded  in  London.  It  was  a  simple 
attempt  of  a  young  Methodist  minister  to  lift  up  some 
few  of  the  children  who  were  ready  to  perish  in  the 
misery  and  vice  of  our  great  metropolis.  He  gathered 
a  few  poor  lads  into  a  humble  cottage,  and  tried  there, 
by  the  influence  of  home,  of  work,  and,  most  of  all,  of 
the  religion  of  Jesus,  to  win  them  for  God.  Soon  the 
movement  won  friends,  financial  help  was  given  in- 
creasingly, and  at  the  end  of  twelve  months  it  was 
necessary  to  enlarge  the  Home.  A  second  cottage 
was  taken,  where  a  second  group  was  housed — for  it 
was  felt  that  at  all  costs  the  family  idea  must  be  main- 
tained. But  who  was  to  take  charge  of  these  lads  ? 
Who  could  best  "mother"  the  boys?  Then  the 
thought  came,  given  surely  by  the  Good  Spirit,  "  Why 
not  ask  women  of  refinement  and  position  to  come 
and,  for  Christ's  sake,  give  themselves  to  this  work  of 


ENGLISH    METHODIST   DEACONESSES.         1 79 

caring  for  humanity's  orphans?"  One  such  lady  came, 
and  through  the  years,  with  the  growth  of  the  work, 
others  have  followed,  until  now  nearly  sixty  such  wo- 
men are  engaged  in  the  Children's  Home.  They  are 
all  voluntary  workers ;  some  few  are  women  of  private 
means,  who  can  support  themselves ;  others  require  to 
be  set  free  to  work,  and  such  are  supported ;  but  no  one 
asks  for  a  salary.  They  give  their  time  and  strength 
and  love  to  the  children  for  the  sake  of  the  children's 
Redeemer,  and  their  constant  aim  is  to  win  the  souls 
of  the  children  for  the  Saviour  so  that  their  lives  will 
be  given  to  him. 

These  "  Sisters  of  the  Children,"  as  this  branch  of 
the  Methodist  Deaconesses  is  called,  spend  two  years  in 
probation  and  training.  They  attend  lectures  on  Bible 
Study,  on  the  Christian  Evidences,  on  Church  History. 
They  also  take  two  courses  of  lectures  on  nursing  and 
simple  medicine,  and  they  all  follow  a  prescribed  course 
of  reading  which  will  help  them  in  their  work.  Some 
women  have  already  given  twenty  years  to  the  work, 
while  others  have  spent  a  longer  or  shorter  time  in  the 
field;  and  by  God's  blessing  more  than  3,000  children 
have  been  uplifted  and  helped,  of  whom  the  large  ma- 
jority are  now  respectable  citizens,  while  more  than 
fifty-six  per  cent,  are  faithful  members  of  the  church  of 
Christ  and  earnest  workers  in  his  vineyard.  The  Sis- 
ters of  the  Children  have  also  always  found  some  time 
for  outside  mission  work,  though  their  time  is  largely 
taken  up  in  the  Homes  of  which  they  have  charge. 

To-day  in  different  parts  of  England  other  branches 
of  the  order  of  Deaconesses  have  grown  up.  In  the 
West  London  Methodist  Mission  the  Sisters  of  the 
People  are  laboring  among  the  poor,  the  sick  and  the 


l8o  WOMAN  IN  MISSIONS. 

lost;  and  among  the  rich  as  well.  Sometimes  they 
find  that  their  hardest  task  is  to  reach  the  wealthy,  who 
are  often  far  away  from  God. 

They  undertake  all  kind  of  work  for  the  uplifting 
of  the  people :  they  visit  in  the  homes ;  they  nurse  the 
sick ;  they  try  to  befriend  the  lonely  young  men  and 
women  of  the  city  business  houses,  who  too  often  are 
driven  into  sin  by  the  thought  that  no  one  cares  what 
they  do,-  that  no  one  extends  to  them  the  right  hand  of 
fellowship  as  they  walk  in  slippery  places.  They  con- 
duct meetings  for  men,  and  meetings  for  women ;  and 
a  day  nursery  is  open,  all  the  week  round,  for  babies. 
Indeed,  no  branch  of  service  is  there  in  which  the 
sisters  are  not  active,  and  they  find  that,  having  left  all 
to  follow  Christ  in  his  mission  of  mercy  to  the  sin- 
stricken  world,  he  himself  guides  them  and  blesses 
them  in  their  labors. 

At  the  East  London  Mission  a  similar  band  of 
devoted  women  is  at  work,  but  they  are  not  so  fully 
organized  and  do  not  call  themselves  Sisters  or  Dea- 
conesses, though  they  fulfil  to  a  great  extent  the  same 
ideal.  In  Manchester  and  elsewhere  similar  groups  of 
workers  have  been  formed ;  and  altogether  there  are 
now  about  one  hundred  and  forty  of  these  unsalaried, 
trained  women  at  work. 

But  it  was  felt  that  a  time  had  come  when  a  Train- 
ing Home  should  be  established  where  women  could 
have  definite  preparation  and  training,  and  whence  they 
could  go  at  the  end  of  twelve  months  to  any  field  of 
labor  where  a  deaconess  was  required.  By  the  gener- 
osity of  a  wealthy  Methodist  gentleman  a  house  was 
taken  and  furnished  near  Victoria  Park,  and  the  Prin- 
cipal of  the  Children's  Home  became  the  Warden  of 


ENGLISH    METHODIST  DEACONESSES.         l8l 

the  Wesley  Deaconess  Institute.  The  ladies  who  come 
there  spend  twelve  months  in  study  and  in  gaining 
practical  experience  of  work ;  they  then  spend  a  second 
year  in  actual  labor;  and  if  at  the  end  of  that  time 
they  seem  suited  to  the  work,  and  find  God  is  blessing 
them  in  it,  they  are  formally  consecrated  or  set  apart  in 
a  simple  but  solemn  dedication  service.  The  Wesley 
Deaconesses  are  growing  rapidly  in  number ;  already 
two  branch  Homes  have  been  established,  and  it  seems 
as  though  this  humble  plant  may  grow  into  a  great 
tree  whose  leaves  shall  be  for  the  healing  of  the  nations. 
Already  about  twenty  have  passed  through  the  Train- 
ing Home  and  are  now  at  work  in  different  parts  of  the 
country,  while  about  fifteen  probationers  are  in  resi- 
dence. God's  blessing  has  been  upon  us.  He  has 
sent  the  right  women.  He  is  raising  up  friends  and 
sympathizers,  and  is  giving  us  financial  help. 

We  have  not  yet  received  any  official  recognition 
by  the  Conference,  though  the  ministers  regard  us  gen- 
erally with  kindliness  and  welcome  us  in  the  field. 

The  fields  are  white  unto  the  harvest.  A  little 
band  of  workers  have  entered  the  field.  Many  more 
are  at  the  gates  asking  to  be  permitted  to  enter.  We 
need  thousands  insteads  of  scores ;  there  is  work  for 
many  hearts  and  hands,  and  the  laborers  are  few. 

We  need  your  sympathy.  Rally  round  us,  cheer 
us  by  your  interest  and  help. 

"  Oh  it  is  hard  to  work  for  God, 
To  rise  and  take  our  part 
Upon  this  battlefield  of  earth, 
And  not  sometimes  lose  heart." 

Most  of  all  we  ask  you  to  pray  for  us,  that  so  the  arms 
of  our  hands  may  be  made  strong  by  the  hands  of  the 


1 82  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

mighty  God  of  Jacob.  He  is  our  Helper ;  it  is  only  as 
he  blesses  us  that  our  work  can  prosper.  We  believe 
he  has  called  us  to  minister  to  him  in  the  person  of 
suffering  and  sinning  humanity.  In  the  tearful  eyes  of 
a  sorrowful,  homeless  bairn  we  see  Jesus.  Through 
the  sick  and  suffering  body  of  one  of  his  brethren  we 
wait  on  Him.  And  when  we  go  to  those  who  are  per- 
ishing in  degradation  and  sin,  and  try  to  lend  a  hand  to 
lead  them  to  the  Helper  and  Healer,  we  hear  the  voice 
of  Jesus  in  our  ears,  saying,  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  do  it  unto 
one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren  ye  do  it  unto 
me." 


DEACONESSES  AND  THEIR  WORK. 

BY  MRS.  LUCY  RYDER  MEYER. 

Deaconesses  are  trained,  unsalaried  and  cos- 
tumed women,  providentially  free — sometimes  most 
sadly  free — from  the  responsibilities  that  occupy  the 
time  of  most  women,  banding  themselves  together  to 
aid  and  supplement  other  agencies  in  carrying  the 
gospel  in  all  practical,  helpful  ways  to  those  who  have  it 
not.  They  differ  from  Bible  women  in  that  they  must 
be  trained.  Bible  women,  and  indeed  all  other  mission- 
aries, may  be  trained,  but  deaconesses  must  be.  They 
are  costumed,  and  unsalaried,  and  they  usually  live  in 
communities  called  Homes.  In  addition  to  this,  the 
deaconess  in  all  denominations  usually  has  formal 
churchly  recognition  and  authorization.  She  is,  in  a 
special  sense — as  was  Phoebe,  whom  Paul  called  a 
^* diakonos^'   and  whom   our   revisers   have  done  the 


DEACONESSES  AND   THEIR  WORK.  1 83 

tardy  justice  of  calling  a  deaconess  in  the  margin — a 
servant  of  the  church. 

An  illustration  sometimes  gives  a  better  idea  than 
a  definition.  Let  me  tell  you  something  of  the  work 
deaconesses  do. 

Some  little  time  ago,  in  answer  to  an  urgent  de- 
mand, one  of  our  Chicago  deaconesses  was  taken  by  an 
agent  of  the  Humane  Society  to  a  German  family  where 
eight  people  were  living  in  one  room.  The  father,  mo- 
ther and  two  oldest  children  were  sick  with  typhoid 
fever,  and  the  sick  and  well  together  were  occupying 
two  beds.  Unless  one  has  witnessed  with  his  own  eyes 
similar  suffering  and  degradation  it  is  impossible  to 
get  any  conception  of  it.  The  deaconess,  a  trained 
nurse,  told  me  that  until  she  could  procure  a  third 
bed  she  was  obliged  to  reach  over  the  sick  mother  and 
one  child  in  order  to  administer  medicine  to  the  eleven- 
year-old  girl,  lying  at  the  back  of  one  of  the  beds  in  a 
raging  fever.  For  nine  days  and  nights  the  nurse 
stayed  in  that  room,  with  only  occasional  snatches  of 
rest  in  the  house  of  a  compassionate  neighbor  who 
cleared  out  a  room  for  her  transient  occupancy.  Du- 
ring that  time  the  father  and  daughter  died,  but  the 
others  recovered. 

Imagine  this  refined  and  sensitive  woman,  only 
twenty-five  years  old,  absolutely  alone  with  that  family. 
The  story  of  the  last  night  of  the  litde  girl's  life,  as 
the  nurse  rehearsed  it  to  me,  is  too  harrowing  to  re- 
peat. She  says  of  it  herself,  "  What  I  went  through 
it  would  be  impossible  to  tell ;  no  amount  of  money 
would  have  kept  me  at  my  post,  but  our  motto,  '  For 
Jesus'  sake,'  gave  me  strength." 

The  deaconess,   a  single  instance  of  whose  life  I 


1 84  WOMAN   IN  MISSIONS. 

have  given,  was  a  graduated  nurse ;  she  had  been  twen- 
ty months  in  the  hospital  learning  the  technicalities  of 
her  profession.  She  could  have  practised  as  a  private 
nurse,  earning  her  $20  to  $25  per  week.  She  did  not 
demand  any  pay  for  her  services — you  can  well  under- 
stand how  she  could  not — and  if  she  had  been  paid  at 
the  highest  rate  ever  given  a  professional  nurse  not  a 
penny  would  have  gone  into  her  own  pocket ;  it  would 
all  have  been  brought  to  the  Deaconess  Hon^e  in 
which  she  lives  and  out  from  which  she  goes  to  these 
cases.  For  herself,  she  receives  her  support,  a  com- 
fortable but  simple  living,  her  clothes  from  a  common 
store-room,  and  two  dollars  per  month  allowance  for 
pocket  money.  She  wears  a  costume  not  very  dif- 
ferent from  the  dress  of  an  ordinary  woman.  Her  hair 
is  not  cut,  nor  is  her  face  shrouded  in  white  bands, 
but  her  dress  is  sufficiently  marked  for  her  recognition 
and  protection,  and  of  an  exceedingly  economical  kind. 
She  is  a  volunteer.  If  at  any  time  she  should  desire  to 
leave  the  work,  either  to  return  to  her  home,  to  accept 
a  salaried  position,  or  to  marry,  she  is  entirely  free  to 
do  so  without  even  a  day's  warning  ;  no  dishonor  or 
discredit  will  in  any  way  attach  to  her  for  the  act. 

This  is  a  typical  case  of  deaconess  work,  yet  there 
are  such  variations  as  would  naturally  occur  in  a  great 
institution,  since  various  Hues  of  work  can  be  carried 
on  to  better  advantage  than  by  concentraing  every  effort 
on  one  point. 

Not  all  deaconesses  are  nurses.  Some  are  pastors' 
assistants  ;  some  canvass  in  districts,  not  only  to  dis- 
cover physical  need,  but  also  to  discover  and  relieve 
social,  moral  and  spiritual  wants.  Some  are  matrons 
and  teachers  in  the  biblical  and  nursing  schools  that 


DEACONESSES   AND   THEIR   WORK.  1 85 

feed  the -Homes.  All  are  alike,  however,  in  their 
essential  characteristics :  all  are  trained,  all  are  cos- 
tumed, all  are  volunteers,  all,  the  highest  as  well  as  the 
lowest,  are  entirely  unsalaried,  and  nearly  all  live  in 
communities — our  "  Homes." 

Deaconesses  are  trained,  whether  they  go  as  gen- 
eral workers  or  nurses.  Much  of  the  success  of  their 
work  is  due  to  this  fact.  The  recognition  of  the  wis- 
dom and  economy  of  spending  time  and  strength  in 
training,  whatever  be  the  activity  towards  which  any 
worker  looks,  is  a  characteristic  of  our  times.  The  old 
way  of  training  school-teachers  was  to  thrust  them  out 
into  the  actual  work  of  teaching  and  let  them  learn  by 
the  hardest  experiences,  through  their  blunders  and  fail- 
ures ;  a  painful  process  to  the  teacher,  and  an  expensive 
one  to  the  unfortunate  children  upon  whom  she  experi- 
mented. But  the  normal  schools  that  have  sprung  up 
all  over  our  land  tell  of  a  better  way  in  secular  teaching, 
a  way  in  which  theory  and  practice  and  kindly  criticism 
go  hand  in  hand.  And,  if  the  work  of  a  teacher  is  too 
responsible  to  be  entrusted  to  novices,  what  shall  we 
say  of  those  who  have  to  meet  confessedly  the  most 
perplexing  and  difficult  social  and  religious  problems  ? 

But  we  have  adopted  the  principle  of  sending  out 
only  trained  workers,  not  from  theory  only,  but  from 
experience.  When  our  organization  first  began  its 
work  in  this  city,  for  it  was  in  Chicago  that  the  work 
in  the  Methodist  Church  in  this  country  orginated,  the 
demand  for  nurses,  especially,  was  so  great  that  our 
judgment  yielded  to  our  sympathy  and  we  sent  women 
that  were  not  thoroughly  trained  to  care  for  the  sick. 
A  very  short  experience,  however,  convinced  us  that 
such  a  course,  while  seemingly  imperative,  was  neither 


1 86  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

kind  nor  economical.  It  was  not  kind  to  our  patients, 
it  was  not  safe  for  the  nurses  themselves — remember, 
a  large  proportion  of  the  cases  they  dealt  with  were 
actively  or  insidiously  contagious,  it  did  not  reflect  honor 
upon  or  beget  confidence  in  the  institution  that  sent  them 
out.  And  we  soon  found  that  training  in  the  know- 
ledge of  the  Bible  and  in  methods  of  work  was  quite 
as  necessary  for  those  who  went  to  the  relief  of  moral 
degradation  and  want. 

The  physical  suffering  and  need  of  the  poorer 
classes  is  far  more  easily  comprehended  than  their 
mental  and  moral  destitution,  but  the  latter  is  quite  as 
real,  quite  as  appalling  in  its  results,  and  even  more 
difficult  to  deal  with.  It  does  not  take  much  wisdom 
to  be  good,  fortunately,  but  it  requires  a  good  deal  of 
wisdom  to  do  good.  A  worker  among  the  poorer 
classes  of  our  city  must  be  able  to  read  character,  to 
take  in  the  environment  of  a  case,  a  volume  at  a 
glance.  We  could  not  entrust  the  relieving  of  distress 
to  untrained  women ;  intuition  will  do  a  great  deal, 
but  intuition  will  not  take  the  place  of  training.  Not 
all  cases  are  as  transparent  as  that  of  the  poor  woman 
we  were  trying  to  help  a  few  weeks  ago,  who — sup- 
posing it  would  make  some  difference,  in  which  how- 
ever she  was  mistaken — frankly  admitted  the  first  even- 
ing that  she  was  a  Catholic.  But  the  next  morning, 
learning  that  our  institution  was  Protestant,  with  a 
Methodist  tint,  she  emphatically  asserted  that  she  was 
not  a  Catholic  at  all,  she  was  an  Episcopalian,  and  her 
husband  was  Lutheran,  Besides,  she  was  a  Methodist 
now! 

Deaconesses  wear  a  costume :  for  instant  recogni- 
tion, for  economy,  for  accessibility  to  the  poor.     We 


DEACONESSES  AND   THEIR   WORK.  18^7 

concede  there  is  something  of  artificiality  in  our  conven- 
tional— not  conventual — dress.  We  willingly  admit 
that  in  a  natural  and  normal  state  of  society  each  mem- 
ber should  have  the  privilege  of  individuality  in  dress, 
the  same  as  in  her  words.  But  the  organic  whole  of 
society — for  social  science  has  just  discovered  what 
Christ  taught  2,000  years  ago,  that  society  is  a  unit, 
every  member  of  which  is  bound  to  every  other  mem- 
ber by  a  thousand  indissoluble  ties — is  not,  at  present, 
in  a  normal  state.  The  segregation  of  classes,  which  is 
so  marked  a  characteristic  of  even  American  society,  is 
not  normal.  The  outbreaking  moral  diseases  of  some, 
of  the  poor,  the  effeminacy  and  self-seeking  of  some  ol 
the  rich,  are  not  normal  conditions.  A  wise  physician 
charged  with  the  care  of  a  well  person  needs  to  do 
nothing  but  advise  a  simple  and  natural  life ;  called  to 
the  bedside  of  the  sick,  we  find  him  pursuing  a  totally 
different  course :  making  use  of  artificial  means — of  the 
plaster  cast,  or  the  penetrating  knife.  So,  in  dealing 
with  the  open  wounds  and  sores  of  the  social  body  of  a 
great  city,  we  are  justified  in  adopting  some  peculiari- 
ties in  our  work.  The  only  criterion  by  which  we  can 
be  judged  is.  Do  they  help  us  in  helping  our  patients  ? 
We  do  not  deny  that  it  does  involve  some  little  self- 
denial  to  don  our  serge  bonnets.  We  feel  that  we  too, 
as  well  as  you,  ladies,  have  a  right  to  retain  our  indi- 
viduality in  dress,  to  array  ourselves  in  bright  colors 
and  soft  textures  ;  but  the  most  sacred  right  a  human 
being  can  have,  after  all,  is  the  right  to  give  up  her 
rights,  if  by  so  doing  a  greater  good  will  come  to  hu- 
manity. We  wear  our  uniform  for  our  work's  sake. 
We  are  not  in  ordinary  family  and  social  life ;  we  are 
providentially  free  from  the  duties  and  responsibilities — 


1 88  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

blessed  though  they  are — that  bind  most  women  to  their 
homes  and  their  friends,  so  that  we  can  devote  our- 
selves to  this  work  as  others  cannot.  And  because  of 
certain  manifest  advantages  we  wear  the  costume,  re- 
linquishing the  bright  colors  and  bright  textures  to 
those  whose  vocation  in  life  is  so  different,  and  to  the 
oft-quoted  flowers  and  birds  and  sunset  clouds,  in 
whom,  however,  let  me  say  in  passing,  there  abides  no 
moral  quality,  and  in  whose  gorgeous  array  there  is  not 
involved  the  needless  expenditure  of  money  which  in 
the  present  abnormal  state  of  our  social  body  is  so  cer- 
tainly and  constantly  convertible  into  terms  of  redeemed 
souls.  Moreover,  we  have  a  conviction,  based  on  expe- 
rience, that  our  women  are  safer  wearing  the  costume. 
You  know  very  well  there  are  sections  of  many  large 
cities  where  it  is  not  safe  for  a  well-dressed  person  to 
be  seen  alone  after  nightfall.  Our  deaconesses,  espe- 
cially the  nurses,  are  actually  called  into  these  localities, 
not  only  by  day,  but  by  night.  We  have  never  yet 
prohibited  them  from  going  alone  into  any  part  of  the 
city  in  any  of  the  twenty-four  hours  of  the  day.  They 
are  necessarily  associated  with  all  kinds  of  women,  they 
perform  their  labor  of  love  in  all  kinds  of  houses ;  they 
would  not  be  safe  from  physical  harm  or  social  suspi- 
cion had  they  not  some  distinguishing  characteristic  in 
their  garb.  This  is,  indeed,  the  one  great,  reason  why 
we  wear  the  costume,  but  there  are  other  excellent  rea- 
sons :  it  is  economical ;  it  prevents  hurts  and  griev- 
ances in  the  Home,  where  some  are  and  will  be  cloth- 
ing themselves  out  of  an  income  which  renders  them 
independent  while  others  are  dependent  upon  gar- 
ments furnished  by  the  Home;  it  gives  an  esprit 
de  corps  to   our  workers.      What   the   blue   coat   of 


DEACONESSES   AND   THEIR   WORK.  1 89 

the  United  States  soldier  is  to  him  the  white  ties  and 
serge  bonnets  are  to  us. 

But  notice  further.  Deaconesses  are  volunteers, 
and  this  simple  fact  at  once  places  our  work  on  a  plane 
which  raises  it  above  whole  classes  of  motives  appeal- 
ing to  ordinary  workers.  Our  women  come  when  they 
will  —  provided  they  will  submit  themselves  to  the 
requirements  of  training,  etc.  —  they  go  when  they 
please.  That  is,  theoretically  they  "  go  " — actually  they 
stay.  The  work  has  been  established  in  our  church 
now  more  than  six  years,  and  it  numbers  more  than 
three  hundred  women,  and  one  of  the  great  surprises 
in  connection  with  it  has  been  that,  while  some  have 
resigned  on  account  of  health,  so  few  have  left.  Some 
have  gone  home  to  care  for  dependent  parents,  four 
have  been  married  in  our  parlors  or  chapels,  but  most 
of  them  stay  by  the  work.  We  ask  but  one  question 
of  importance,  of  women  desiring  to  become  deacon- 
esses, and  that  is,  "  Do  you  believe  God  has  called  you 
to  the  work  ?"  And  if  God  calls  them  they  will  stay. 
I  used  to  fear  that  money  inducements  would  affect  our 
workers,  especially  our  nurses ;  but,  though  offers  of 
salaried  positions  have  frequently  been  made  them, 
very  rarely  has  there  been  a  response,  even  when  the 
position  has  been  associated  with  other  philanthropic 
work.  Our  women  use  money  mostly  to  give  it  away, 
and  the  longer  they  remain  with  us  the  more  fully  does 
the  power  of  money  as  a  motive  seem  to  vanish  from 
their  lives. 

This  brings  me  to  the  subject  of  unsalaried  work. 
As  I  have  before  stated,  deaconesses  are  entirely  and 
comfortably  supported  in  their  work  ;  they  have  the 
guarantee  of  support  and  all  needed  care  in  sickness  or 


igo  WOMAN  IN   MISSIONS. 

old  age ;  they  have  their  allowance  for  pin-money ;  but 
they  are  entirely  unsalaried.  Much  might  be  said  in 
favor  of  our  support  coming  as  it  does.  It  entirely 
relieves  us  of  all  questions  concerning  dress — how  our 
garments  are  to  be  obtained  and  paid  for,  and  how 
they  are  to  be  made.  We  give  the  matter  not  a  single 
thought.  Blessed  reUef !  One  might  almost  be  tempt- 
ed to  become  a  deaconess  from  this  motive  alone.  We 
have  that  thing  most  necessary  for  our  work, 

"  A  heart  at  leisure  from  itself 
To  soothe  and  sympathize." 

It  gives  us  accessibility  to  the  poor.  We  take  no 
vows  of  poverty — we  take  no  vows  of  any  kind — but 
we  must  be  simple  and  humble  in  our  manner  of  life 
if  we  would  reach  the  poor  and  simple  people  around 
us.  It  would  require  half  our  life  to  convince  them  of 
our  sincerity  and  sympathy  if  we  were  to  go  to  them 
in  ordinary  social  ways.  Benevolent  work  in  great 
cities  has  peculiar  difficulties.  We  meet  many  who 
have  never  felt  one  touch  of  brotherliness  from  Chris- 
tians, and  who  have  become  embittered  by  the  hard 
experiences  of  life.  As  they  learn  our  errand  they  inevi- 
tably suspect  us  of  mercenary  motives.  Professional 
religious  and  benevolent  workers  have  in  the  past  so 
uniformly  worked  wtfA  money  that  these  poor  people 
have  the  dreadful  perversion  firmly  fixed  in  their  minds 
that  they  work  /or  money.  Alas,  alas,  that  Christian 
workers  have  become  so  sadly  associated  in  the  minds 
of  the  masses  with  money  loving  and  money  getting ! 
"  How  much  do  you  get  a  head,"  is  their  blunt  ques- 
tion, "  for  getting  our  children  into  the  Sunday-school?" 
"  Who  pays  you  for  nursing  our  sick  and  cleaning  our 
houses?"     And  nothing  so  surprises  them  into  con- 


DEACONESSES   AND   THEIR   WORK.  I9I 

fidence  and  love  as  our  simple  answer,  "  No  one 
pays  us,  we  come  only  because  we  love  you  and  want 
to  help  you  if  we  may."  It  is  recompense  better  than 
any  thing  earth  has  to  offer  that  we  may  disarm  pre- 
judice and  succeed  in  our  work  by  the  insignificant 
self-denial  of  working  without  a  salary.  We  are  un- 
salaried that  there  may  be  more  laborers  in  the  field. 
There  is  no  such  demand  for  philanthropic  effort  to- 
day in  civilized  lands  as  exists  in  great  cities,  and 
shame  would  be  to  us  if  in  this  great  emergency  we 
women  should  stand  back  on  our  "  rights  "  and  refuse 
to  do  what  we  can. 

Then  there  is  another  consideration:  there  has 
never  been  any  money  to  pay  salaries  with.  Every 
missionary  society  is  constantly  working  up  to  the  full 
measure  of  its  financial  ability  in  paying  its  regular  mis- 
sionaries. It  has  been  from  the  first  not  a  question  of 
salary  or  no  salary,  but  no  salary  or  no  existence. 

I  must  devote  a  few  moments  to  the  consideration 
of  our  community  life,  for,  while  living  in  a  commu- 
nity is  not  a  necessary  condition  of  deaconess  work, 
the  fact  is  that,  since  great  cities  are  the  principal  scenes 
of  deaconess  work,  deaconesses  usually  live  in  a  com- 
munity. It  is  exceedingly  economical,  and  is  exceed- 
ingly pleasant.  It  solves  the  problem  of  helpful  and 
congenial  companionship.  It  is  said  that  it  will  foster 
a  tendency  to  an  introverted  and  unnatural  life ;  but  we 
cannot  think  so,  so  long  as  continued  residence  is 
entirely  voluntary,  and  so  long  as  our  workers  are 
constantly  in  healthful  contact  with  the  outside  world 
in  their  daily  activities.  Bear  in  mind  also  that  there  is 
no  secrecy  or  mystery  in  our  Deaconess  Homes.  This 
thing  is  not  done  in  a  corner.     We  do  not  even  have 


192  WOMAN  IN   MISSIONS. 

"  visiting  days ;"  all  our  days  are  visiting  days.  We 
are  modelled  after  the  family.  Absolute  freedom  in 
correspondence,  such  social  life  as  does  not  interfere 
with  our  peculiar  calling,  and  the  privilege  of  leaving 
the  Home  at  any  time — these  guard  against  any  possi- 
ble tendency  to  danger.  The  happiest  place  on  earth 
is  doubtless  the  family,  where  the  father  and  mother 
gather  the  little  ones  about  their  knees  and  each  finds 
his  highest  joy  in  living  for  others ;  but  the  next  happi- 
est place  ought  to  be  our  Homes,  out  from  which  con- 
genial souls  go,  day  by  day,  to  the  joy  of  working  for 
others,  coming  back  at  night  to  sympathetic  converse 
with  each  other,  and,  if  need  be,  to  wise  and  loving 
counsel  from  their  superintendent.  One  of  the  most 
touching  testimonies  I  have  ever  heard  came  from  the 
lips  of  a  deaconess  who  had  long  lived  in  crowded  but 
lonely  boarding-houses,  but  who  was  now  rejoicing 
that  God  had  "  set  the  solitary  in  a  family." 

The  Hfe  of  a  deaconess  is  a  happy  one.  I  am 
talking  to  practical  people,  and  one  of  the  questions  I 
anticipate  is,  "  Will  women  volunteer  to  such  trying 
and  difficult  service,  and  are  they  happy  in  it  ?"  To 
the  first  question,  let  me  say  that,  though  the  work  of 
deaconesses  in  the  aggressive  form  in  which  I  am  pre- 
senting it  to  you  to-day  is  only  a  little  more  than  six 
years  old  in  this  country — and  it  began  most  humbly, 
not  attracting  much  attention  for  a  year  or  two — there  are 
now  three  hundred  women  engaged  in  it  in  the  Homes 
established  in  the  large  cities  of  our  land.  And  the  num- 
ber of  applicants  is  constantly  increasing.  More  letters 
have  reached  me  this  past  month  from  women  who 
are  expecting  to  enter  the  work  than  in  any  preced- 
ing month  in  m  ••  life.    As  to  whether  deaconesses  are 


DEACONESSES   AND   THEIR   WORK.  I93 

happy  or  not,  the  question  is  capable  of  almost  mathe- 
matical proof.  They  stay  in  the  work.  They  might 
go  at  any  time.  Large  inducements  have  been  offered 
to  some  to  go,  and  yet  they  stay.  Over  and  over 
again  have  I  heard  the  testimony  from  their  lips,  "  I 
was  never  so  happy  in  my  Hfe."  One  of  them  wrote 
to  her  brother,  with  no  thought  of  my  ever  seeing  the 
letter,  "  I  believe  I  am  as  happy  as  any  one  can  be  out 
of  heaven."  Another  one  told  me,  with  mingled  smiles 
and  tears,  "  I  sometimes  think  I  am  going  to  die  soon, 
I  am  so  happy."  I  know  you  will  accuse  me  in  your 
thoughts  of  overstating  the  case,  but,  dear  friends,  there 
is  no  such  exquisite  happiness  on  earth  as  the  joy  of 
helping  others.  To  lift  the  desolate,  helpless  soul  from 
sin  and  suffering  to  a  life  of  hope,  this  is  a  work  angels 
might  covet,  and  it  brings  a  joy  that  angels  hardly 
know.  You  will  remember  that  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
himself,  for  the  joy  that  was  set  before  him,  endured 
the  cross,  despising  the  shame.  The  little  discomforts 
in  a  deaconess  life,  the  weariness  and  watching,  these 
vanish  into  an  infinite  insignificance  in  the  face  of  the 
heavenly  joy  that  our  labors  are,  sometimes  at  least, 
crowned  with  success.  It  cannot  be  explained  on 
natural  grounds,  I  admit,  but,  dear  friends,  we  possess  a 
supernatural  religion;  why  should  we  wonder  that 
supernatural  results  should  flow  from  it! 

I  have  been  describing  a  work  that  is  formally 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
but  I  wish  to  correct  a  false  impression  that  may  arise 
as  to  the  character  of  its  denominationalism.  We 
actually  have  ladies  of  other  evangelical  denominations 
working  right  with  us,  shoulder  to  shoulder,  as  deacon- 
esses :  the  only  difference  being  that  these  ladies  do 

Woman  io  Miasions.  J  •J 


194  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

not  receive  the  special  form  of  license  given  by  the 
Methodist  church.  Then,  as  to  our  outside  work,  much 
of  it  is  of  such  a  character  that  it  is  necessarily  unde- 
nominational. Most  of  those  we  help  are  outside  the 
bounds  of  any  church,  and  frequently  that  is  just  why 
they  need  help.  We  go  wherever  we  can  do  good, 
making  the  one  condition,  "  Is  there  a  need  for  our 
service  here?"  And,  recognizing  this  fact,  people  of  all 
denominations  are  aiding  in  the  voluntary  contributions 
that  form  the  chief  part  of  our  support.  In  one  very 
large  Home  it  is  estimated  that  about  one-third  of  the 
support  comes  from  non-Methodistic  sources. 

Let  me  say  a  word  as  to  the  admirable  adaptation 
of  our  work  to  the  needs  of  our  great  cities.  In  the 
first  place,  because  it  is  religious.  It  is  true  that  we  do 
a  vast  amount  of  relief  and  humanitarian  work — we 
have  been  forced  to  do  it — but  the  great  underlying 
motive  of  all  is  the  religious  one.  I  do  not  believe  that 
any  other  motive  would  be  strong  enough  to  keep  men 
or  women  in  the  continued  prosecution  of  a  work  like 
ours,  a  work  which  frequently  leads  us  into  almost  un- 
endurable depths  of  degradation.  I  am  sure  that  money 
would  not  hire  our  women  to  do  the  work  which  fre- 
quently falls  to  their  lot.  Over  and  over  again  have  I 
heard  them  say,  "  Nothing  kept  me  at  my  post  but  our 
motto,  '  For  Jesus'  sake '." 

And  as  the  power  of  money  over  our  women  seems 
broken  so  also  the  fear  of  disease  seems  to  be  entirely 
removed.  We  used  to  have  a  rule  that  no  nurse  should 
be  detailed  to  a  contagious  disease  unless  she  were 
quite  wiUing  to  go.  The  rule  has  fallen  into  disuse, 
simply  because  I  have  never  been  able  to  find  a  nurse 
who  was  not  more  than  willing  to  go. 


DEACONESSES   AND   THEIR   WORK.  I95 

Moreover,  nothing  but  a  message  which  has  help 
and  hope  for  the  moral  and  spiritual  side  of  life  would 
be  at  all  adequate  to  the  needs  of  the  people  we 
would  help.  Hunger  of  heart  is  just  as  real  a  pain, 
and  just  as  hard  to  bear,  as  hunger  of  body.  Our  poor 
people  need  help  for  their  souls  quite  as  much  as  for 
their  bodies.  Because  comfort  and  hope  cannot  be 
weighed  in  scales,  or  measured  in  quart  cans,  they  are 
none  the  less  real.  About  a  year  ago  I  was  myself 
gready  interested  in  a  poor  mother  who  was  clinging  to 
a  sick  child,  the  last  one  of  her  litde  family  of  three 
children,  with  the  hope  born  of  despair,  and  yet  with  a 
despair  that  left  no  room  for  hope.  It  was  an  infidel 
family.  The  voice  of  prayer  had  never  been  heard  in 
that  home,  yet  as  the  mother  leaned  over  the  crib 
wherein  lay  her  dying  child,  wringing  her  hands  and 
exclaiming,  "  What  shall  I  do?  What  shall  I  do?"  the 
nurse  could  give  but  one  word,  "  You  must  pray.  God 
can  help  you."  "  I  do  not  know  how  to  pray,"  she 
answered  almost  fiercely.  "  I  do  not  even  know  there  is 
a  God."  The  baby  died,  and  one  March  day,  in  the 
pouring  rain,  the  father  called  on  us  again  to  help  him 
make  arrangements  for  the  "  burial."  In  so  many  in- 
stances, in  our  semi-foreign  cities,  people  have  burials 
instead  of  funerals.  I  called,  myself,  more  than  once  at 
that  mother's  door,  but  though  I  heard  her  moans  I 
could  not  get  access  to  her.  It  was  the  nurse  who 
cared  for  her  child  who  finally  reached  her,  and  was  the 
means  of  bringing  comfort  to  her  broken  heart.  It  was 
not  long  before  she  became  interested  in  our  work  for 
other  children,  helping  as  she  could ;  and  only  a  little 
while  afterward,  overtaken  by  sudden  illness,  she  joined 
her  baby  in  the  land  where  no  one  says,  "  I  am  sick." 


196  WOMAN   IN    MISSIONS. 

Was  it  not  as  much  our  duty  to  minister  comfort  to 
that  broken  heart  as  to  give  bread  to  a  hungry  body? 
And  what  she  needed  all  the  world  needs — comfort  in 
trouble  and  hope  for  the  future.  It  may  not  know 
what  it  wants.  It  may  be  like  a  child  "  crying  in  the 
night ;"  but  as  a  child  wants  its  mother  so  we  know 
the  world  wants  God — that  the  soul  is  for  ever  dissatis- 
fied till  it  finds  rest  in  him.  So  our  deaconess  work, 
with  its  double  message  of  help  for  body  and  soul,  is 
perfectly  adapted  to  the  needs  of  great  cities. 

Again,  the  ease  v/ith  which  we  gain  an  entrance 
into  the  homes  and  hearts  of  the  poor  is  a  remarkable 
proof  of  our  adaptation  to  the  work.  I  have  spoken  of 
this  above,  and  need  not  dwell  upon  it  here.  It  is  very 
rarely  that  homes  do  not  open  to  us.  And,  once  open, 
the  influence  of  our  women  is  unbounded.  These  poc- 
people  look  upon  the  cultured,  skilled  woman  who 
comes  to  help  them  in  their  distress-,  making  no  condi- 
tion except  that  there  be  a  need  for  her,  with  little  less 
than  reverence.  She  can  talk  to  them  about  a  thousand 
things  that  could  not  otherwise  be  mentioned.  The 
care  of  the  home,  personal  cleanliness,  sanitary  condi- 
tions, the  duty  of  the  parent  to  the  child — suggestions 
along  all  these  lines  will  be  kindly  received  when  once 
we  have  gained  the  confidence  of  the  people. 

And,  last  of  all,  let  me  speak  of  the  economy  of  our 
work.  We  hope  that,  more  and  more,  women  will  join 
us  who  will  not  only  be  self-supporting,  but  who  will 
bring  of  their  means  for  the  support  of  others.  This  is 
certain  to  take  place.  If  Miss  Drexel  threw  herself 
with  her  millions  into  the  arms  of  the  Roman-catholic 
church,  may  we  not  expect  similar  instances  of  devo- 
tion in  Protestantism  ?     Many  of  our  women  will  doubt- 


DEACONESSES  AND   THEIR  WORK.  1 97 

less  need  support.  The  entire  support  of  a  deaconess 
in  one  of  our  Homes  amounts  to  but  two  hundred  dol- 
lars a  year.  You  will  question  whether  we  can  make 
them  comfortable  at  so  little  expense.  Let  me  reply- 
that  their  remaining  with  us  demonstrates  it;  and  we 
have  had  very  few  deaconesses  break  down  in  the 
work — usually  temporarily,  and  women  who  were  far 
from  well  when  they  came  to  us.  If  you  ask  how  we 
can  support  our  workers  on  so  little,  let  me  remind  you 
of  our  wholesale  purchases,  the  fact  that  we  receive 
many  gifts  of  provisions,  and  the  inexpensiveness  of 
our  costume.  We  pay  next  to  nothing  for  admin- 
istration, only  the  support  of  a  deaconess  manager 
in  case  that  person  does  not  support  herself.  We 
have  no  salaried  solicitors,  and  no  salaried  examiners. 
We  do  not  criticize  the  bodies  of  benevolent  workers 
who  are  obliged  to  avail  themselves  of  such  help — we 
are  not  so  unreasonable  as  to  suppose  that  all  forms 
of  humanitarian  work  can  be  carried  on  as  ours  is ; 
but  we  simply  state  the  fact.  And  we  call  upon  you 
to  rejoice  with  us  that  such  work  as  ours  is  organ- 
ized in  most  of  our  large  towns  ;  that  the  groan  of  the 
"  populous  city  "  has  so  entered  into  the  hearts  of  three 
or  four  hundred  earnest-hearted  women  that  they  have 
banded  themselves  together,  making  the  supreme  offer- 
ing of  their  lives ;  working  wisely  and  well  at  this 
great  problem  of  helping  the  church  to  carry  the  gospel 
to  the  poor. 


igS  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 


WOMAN  AND  EDUCATION  IN  MISSIONS. 

WORK  OF  WOMAIV'S  SCHOOLS  AND  COL- 
LEGES  IN  MISSIONS. 

BY  MRS.    DARWIN   R.   JAMES. 

The  progress  which  the  last  half-century  has 
witnessed  in  the  material  world  has  not  been  more 
evident  than  the  advance  in  methods  ofwork  in  mis- 
sions. 

Whereas,  fifty  years  ago,  man  was  the  only  one 
commissioned  to  carry  the  gospel,  woman  being  sim- 
ply an  adjunct  in  the  form  of  a  wife,  to-day  the  women 
who  publish  the  tidings  in  mission  schools  and  higher 
institutions  of  learning  are  a  great  host. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  remarkable  growth  of 
this  branch  of  mission  work  allow  me  to  cite  facts  in 
the  history  of  the  organization  which  I  have  the  honor 
to  represent :  "  The  Woman's  Executive  Committee  of 
Home  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian   Church." 

Organized  in  1878,  with  no  teachers  or  schools, 
the  first  year's  receipts  were  but  $3,138;  to-day,  after 
but  fifteen  years,  it  numbers  nearly  400  teachers,  150 
schools,  with  an  income  of  $373,000.  Multiply  this 
society  by  the  large  number  of  women's  societies  en- 
gaged in  similar  work  in  the  fields  of  home  and  foreign 
missions,  and  one  can  form  some  conception  of  the 
magnitude  of  this  agency. 

The  philosophy  of  this  advance  is  apparent  when 


SCHOOLS  AND  COLLEGES    IN    MISSIONS.        I99 

we  consider  the  power  of  early  education  on  after  life, 
and  the  part  woman  is  designed  of  God  to  take  in  this 
education. 

To  know  God  is  eternal  Hfe.  This  knowledge, 
which  leads  to  an  understanding  of  our  relations  to 
him  and  to  our  fellow  men,  which  also  quickens  the 
intellect  in  its  grasp  of  all  truth,  can  not  be  imparted 
too  early  in  life. 

It  has  been  stated  as  a  scientific  truth  that  thoughts 
make  courses  in  the  brain,  and  after  they  are  made 
these  courses  control  the  thoughts.  However  this 
may  be,  we  have  daily  illustrations  of  the  dominant 
power  of  early  training  in  its  influences  on  later  years. 

In  an  eastern  asylum  is  a  man  whose  long  years  of 
Christian  activity  attest  the  genuineness  of  his  conver- 
sion ;  but  his  early  education  was  neglected,  and  to- 
day, in  his  insanity,  the  profane  utterances  of  youth, 
which  in  his  lucid  moments  he  abhors,  come  freely 
to  his  lips. 

Can  one  who  for  long  years  has  been  accustomed 
to  do  evil,  until  habit  has  forged  its  chains,  maintain 
through  after  life  the  same  steadfast  character  as  an- 
other who  was  trained  in  early  life  to  do  well  ?  Has 
not  the  latter  a  superiority  of  character,  a  fixedness 
of  purpose,  a  consistency  of  life,  impossible  to  the 
former  ?  Recall  the  standard  bearers  in  the  church 
of  your  youth,  those  who  were  faithful  to  its  inter- 
ests and  the  ordinances  of  God's  house,  in  season 
and  out  of  season,  and,  with  rare  exceptions,  you  will 
go  back  to  Christian  parents,  or  a  Christian  mother. 

If,  then,  we  would  turn  back  the  tide  of  generations 
of  ungodliness  we  must  begin,  patiently  and  lovingly, 
with   the   children.      Especially   does   this   hold   true 


200  WOMAN   IN  MISSIONS. 

when  we  consider  thai  in  establishing  a  Christian 
church  in  a  heathen  community  we  must  carefully 
train  the  leaders  of  the  church,  the  pastors,  elders,  and 
teachers,  with  their  wives,  to  whom  sooner  or  later  the 
maintenance  of  the  church  must  be  committed  ;  and 
this  work  must  begin  early  in  life  by  careful  training 
of  the  children,  which  must  be  done  mainly  by  women. 
So  gradual  has  been  the  change  that  has  brought  wo- 
man into  the  field  as  the  principal  educator  of  youth 
that  we  forget  that  the  old-time  illustration  of  ped- 
agogy was  always  a  man  with  a  ferule  in  his  hand. 

How  slow  we  have  been  to  comprehend  the 
necessity  of  the  line-upon-line  and  precept-upon-pre- 
cept  training  of  the  Christian  mother  in  the  formation 
of  stalwart,  unflinching  Christian  character. 

The  great  need  of  the  world  to-day  is  the  influ- 
ence of  consecrated  womanhood — Christian  mothers. 
This  need  is  supplied  in  a  measure  in  our  mission 
fields  by  our  Christian  teachers. 

The  love  for  Christ  and  souls  which  leads  a  wo- 
man to  leave  home  and  friends  for  this  service  has  a 
divine  energy  which,  touching  the  dead  soul  of  the 
child,  is  vitalizing  in  its  power.  Against  the  passion 
and  instability  of  the  heathen  mother  is  off-set  the 
patient  tenderness  and  unswerving  principle  of  the 
mission  teacher.  Six  days  in  the  week  is  this  influence 
felt,  and  the  result  is  certain.  There  must  be  some- 
thing wrong  with  the  teacher  in  whose  school  there  are 
not  many  conversions.  Let  us  then  consider,  first,  the 
influence  of  mission  schools  on  individual  lives,  shap- 
ing the  character  of  the  future  leaders ;  afterwards,  that 
of  the  schools  in  a  community.  I  must  draw  my  illus- 
trations from  schools  established  among  the  exceptional 


SCHOOLS  AND   COLLEGES   IN    MISSIONS.       201 

population  of  our  own  land,  with  which  I  am  most  famil- 
iar, and  I  shall  choose  fronr  a  wealth  of  material  but 
a  few,  and  those  from  a  sex  which  our  church  rolls 
show  are  the  least  easily  influenced. 

There  drifted  into  a  mission  school  under  the  care 
of  a  consecrated,  faithful  teacher,  a  boy  of  Roman- 
catholic  parentage.  Both  parents  were  intemperate,  the 
father  alternating  between  life  in  some  penal  institu- 
tion and  his  wretched  home.  The  boy's  forlorn  ap- 
pearance and  seemingly  hopeless  future  appealed  to 
the  teacher's  sympathies,  and  she  took  him  into  her 
own  heart  as  her  own  child.  The  love  manifested  in 
her  patient  forbearance  with  his  faults,  her  words  of 
encouragement  and  her  prayers  prevailed.  I  cannot 
take  time  to  tell  of  parental  opposition  overcome  in 
getting  him  into  a  distant  training-school  and  through 
college,  from  which  he  graduated  with  high  honor, 
then  into  the  Theological  Seminary,  in  which  he  is 
supporting  himself  by  successful  employment  in  mis- 
sion work.  Suffice  it  to  say,  the  salvation  of  this  boy, 
through  God's  blessing  upon  the  faithful  labors  of  this 
teacher,  will,  humanly  speaking,  in  its  results  in  in- 
fluencing other  lives  be  a  mighty  power  for  good  in 
the  world,  especially  among  those  from  whose  ranks 
his  life  was  drawn. 

A  somewhat  similar  instance,  in  its  lack  of  promise, 
occurs  to  me  in  connection  with  a  Mormon  school.  A 
mission-school  teacher  in  one  of  the  villages  in  Utah 
was  greatly  annoyed  by  a  rabble  of  boys  whose  leader 
seemed  intent  on  driving  her  out  of  town.  Stones 
were  thrown  into  her  windows,  and  every  means  used 
to  frighten  her  into  leaving,  but  she  pluckily  held  the 
fort.      One  morning  even  the   stove-pipe  seemed    to 


202  WOMAN  IN   MISSIONS. 

partake  of  the  spirit  of  her  adversaries,  and  fell  down, 
resisting  all  attempts  to  put  it  in  place.  In  despera- 
tion she  called  to  the  first  passer-by  for  help.  He  came 
in,  this  same  instigator  of  all  her  troubles,  but  he 
helped  her  to  put  up  the  pipe  and  received  her  thanks, 
with  an  invitation  to  come  into  the  school.  This  invita- 
tion he  accepted,  and  the  teacher  and  scholar  who  had 
burned  their  fingers  together  became  firm  friends,  the 
result  of  that  teacher's  influence  being  that  to-day  one 
of  the  most  successful  pastors  in  Utah,  one  in  whose 
church  there  is  a  constant  revival,  is  he  who  was  the 
teacher's  early  tormentor. 

In  the  Indian  Territory,  the  son  of  a  chief  whose 
tribe  prided  themselves  upon  their  pure  blood  and  their 
separation  from  the  white  race  was  attracted  to  a  mis- 
sion school.  The  teacher  of  this  school  was  an  earnest 
Christian,  and  after  he  had  finished  the  course  of  study 
at  the  day  school  her  influence,  with  that  of  others, 
prevailed  in  inducing  him  to  seek  a  higher  education. 
The  head  men  of  the  tribe  held  a  council  before  he 
went  and  strongly  opposed  his  going,  their  great  fear 
being  that  he  would  espouse  the  white  man's  religion. 
This  he  did,  through  the  teacher's  influence,  strength- 
ened by  that  of  the  training-school,  and  returned  after 
three  years  an  earnest  Christian. 

The  first  few  days  they  watched  him  closely,  then 
at  one  of  their  dances  they  insisted  on  his  joining  them. 
He  stoutly  refused,  and  was  called  before  their  council, 
where  he  was  told  that  this  dance,  as  indeed  all  their 
dances,  was  in  accordance  with  the  religion  of  their 
fathers  and  they  could  not  allow  him  to  neglect  it. 
He  told  them  he  had  forsaken  the  religion  of  his 
fathers  and  entered  into  the  service  of  the  true  God. 


SCHOOLS  AND   COLLEGES   IN   MISSIONS.      203 

When  they  found  they  could  not  move  him  they 
completely  ostracized  him.  Still  he  held  his  faith,  ob- 
tained a  position  as  Government  teacher  and  remained 
among  them.  This  was  ten  years  ago.  During  this 
time  he  has  steadily  continued  his  course  alone,  so  far 
as  the  society  of  his  people  was  concerned,  though 
they  have  closely  watched  his  life. 

Recently  one  of  the  tribe  was  asked  what  he 
thought  of  Thomas.  He  replied,  "  Long  time  ago, 
you  know,  we  none  of  us  speak  to  Thomas,  but  now 
we  see  his  way  is  a  good  way."  He  said  all  the  In- 
dians now  favored  his  way  of  living. 

These  illustrations,  gathered  from  so  large  a  num- 
ber equally  interesting  that  choice  has  been  difficult, 
must  suffice  to  show  results  in  individual  cases.  Mul- 
tiply these  many  fold  and  one  may  gain  some  concep- 
tion of  the  power  of  personal  influence  in  these  mission 
schools. 

One  teacher  writes,  "  I  have  so  many  Christians 
among  my  scholars  that,  had  we  but  a  few  older  people 
for  officers  and  a  minister,  a  church  could  be  organized 
at  once." 

In  order  to  gain  the  best  results  in  these  day 
schools,  and  that  the  teacher's  strength  be  not  over- 
taxed, but  sufficient  time  be  allowed  for  the  personal 
attention  each  child  should  have,  the  number  of  schol- 
ars should  be  limited  to  an  average  of  not  over  thirty ; 
irregular  students,  as  a  rule,  being  dropped. 

For  other  reasons  also  the  teacher  must  be  guarded 
from  exhausting  her  strength  in  the  schoolroom.  Her 
influence  in  the  community  is  great.  She  has  come  to 
live  among  the  people,  and  if  her  life  is  an  incarnation 
of  Christ  the  light  will  shine. 


204  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

Visiting  the  scholars  in  their  homes,  the  parents' 
hearts  open  to  the  loving  interest  shown  in  their  wel- 
fare, words  ot  truth  take  root,  prejudice  is  overcome, 
love  takes  its  place. 

Ofttimes  the  teacher  is  the  only  physician,  and  her 
simple  remedies  and  knowledge  of  hygiene  are  of  great 
value.  If  death  occurs,  she  is  frequently  called  upon 
to  prepare  the  body  for  the  grave  and  conduct  the 
funeral  services. 

In  a  pueblo  in  New  Mexico,  where  an  autocratic 
priest  antagonized  every  effort  of  the  teacher,  a  scourge 
of  small-pox  and  diphtheria  appeared.  The  priest  fled 
but  the  teacher  bravely  held  her  post.  Taking  neces- 
sary precautions,  she  went  about  with  remedies  and 
advice,  administering  material  and  spiritual  comfort, 
until  the  pestilence  abated.  Doors  are  now  open  to 
her  that  will  never  again  be  closed.  Outside  of  school 
her  influence  among  the  young  people  is  felt  through 
the  Bands  of  Hope,  Christian  Endeavor  Societies  and 
Literary  Associations  organized  to  attract  from  saloons 
and  questionable  amusements.  She  helps  to  turn  the 
tide  of  Sunday  desecration  by  attractive  religious  exer- 
cises. Besides  the  usual  Sunday-school  and  Evening 
Service  of  Song,  when  there  is  no  minister  she  oft- 
times  conducts  religious  worship,  reading  a  sermon  or 
giving  a  Bible  exposition,  and  in  one  instance  we 
learned  that  the  people  enjoyed  the  teacher's  services 
better  than  the  licensed  minister's  who  followed. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  change  possible  in  a  com- 
munity through  the  mission  schools  alone,  accompany 
me  to  a  hamlet  in  New  Mexico.  Fourteen  years  ago, 
indolence,  superstition  and  vice  reigned.  Though  in 
a  dairy  country  they  knew  nothing  of  the  use  of  milk ; 


SCHOOLS   AND   COLLEGES   IN    MISSIONS.      20$ 

plowing  the  ground  with  a  crooked  stick,  their  other 
methods  of  agriculture  were  in  unison ;  houses  and 
clothing  were  alike  wretched.  Go  there  to-day:  the 
farms  are  well  tilled,  American  implements  of  agricul- 
ture are  used,  houses  are  greatly  improved,  the  people 
are  well  clad,  milk,  butter  and  fruit  are  seen  upon  their 
tables.  But  stay  until  Sunday  comes.  Who  are  those 
respectable  looking  people  on  their  way  to  church  ? 
Fathers  and  mothers  with  their  children,  undivided 
families,  going  together  to  the  house  of  God.  What 
has  brought  about  this  change  ?  The  mission  school ; 
in  this  instance  taught  by  a  man  and  his  wife  who  have 
transformed  a  region  twelve  miles  in  diameter.  They 
have  taught  the  men  how  to  cultivate  their  land  and  care 
for  their  cattle ;  the  women  how  to  keep  house,  prepare 
their  food,  make  the  clothing  for  the  family  and  take 
care  of  the  children ;  besides  this  they  have  trained 
one  colporter,  six  native  evangelists,  four  elders,  two 
deacons,  four  Sabbath-school  superintendents,  ten  Sab- 
bath-school teachers,  two  public-school  and  four  mis- 
sion-school teachers,  and  the  influence  of  the  mission 
has  gone  into  all  the  country  round  about. 

Down  into  Virginia  a  Pennsylvania  woman  went, 
twenty-six  years  ago,  and  opened  a  school  for  negroes 
under  an  oak  tree.  Go  there  to-day :  that  woman  is 
still  in  the  field,  but  in  that  country  you  will  find  six 
Presbyterian  churches,  six  schools,  and  a  boarding- 
academy,  with  172  scholars,  in  which  three  of  the  teach- 
ers learned  their  letters  under  that  tree.  One  litde  fel- 
low who  began  under  the  oak-tree  graduated  at  How- 
ard University  with  the  highest  honors  of  his  class. 

These  instances  will  sufficiently  illustrate  the.  influ- 
ence of  the  mission  day-school  upon  communities. 


206  WOMAN   IN    MISSIONS. 

Higher  institutions  of  learning,  academies,  indus- 
trial training-schools  and  colleges,  are  also  most  valu- 
able aids  in  missionary  work. 

The  industrial  trainings-school,  in  which  secular, 
religious,  and  industrial  education  are  combined,  is  an 
especially  important  adjunct,  and  the  cottage  system, 
though  more  expensive  than  housing  the  children  in 
one  or  two  large  buildings,  is  gready  preferable,  as 
being  more  homelike  and  bringing  the  children  into 
closer  relations  with  the  teachers.  Here  the  children, 
taken  from  heathen  homes  and  early  contact  with  vice, 
are  trained  to  become  civilized  Christian  leaders.  In 
short,  trained  in  Christian  homes  from  which  their  own 
homes  are  to  be  modeled,  they  go  out  to  perpetuate 
the  influence  of  such  homes  among  their  people. 

Into  one  of  these  homes,  made  attractive  by  a 
young  Indian  wife  who  had  been  trained  in  an  indus- 
trial boarding-school,  came  one  day  recently  an  old 
woman  in  her  blanket.  As  she  saw  the  young  woman 
take  out  of  the  oven  her  well -baked  loaves  of  bread, 
and  noted  the  comfort  and  cleanliness  of  her  home,  she 
poured  forth  her  lamentations  that,  though  she  had 
been  taught  in  her  youth  to  read,  she  had  never  been 
taught  to  work,  and  consequently  such  a  home  was 
impossible  to  her. 

Though  these  schools  are  of  comparatively  recent 
establishment  the  results  are  already  apparent,  in  the 
Christian  homes  which  are  taking  the  places  of  the 
tepees  of  the  Indian  and  the  communal  houses  of  the 
Alaskan. 

Moreover,  the  tide  is  turning ;  the  moral  strength 
and  correct  habits  formed  at  school  enable  them  not 
only  to  forsake  the  heathen  customs  of  their  people, 


SCHOOLS   AND   COLLEGES    IN    MISSIONS.      20/ 

but  to  withstand  the  fearful  temptations  of  the  wretched 
class  of  white  men  who,  without  family  ties  or  the  res- 
traints of  society,  have  made  these  simple  folk  their 
easy  victims. 

In  Alaska,  young  people  from  these  schools  are 
banding  together  in  a  society  called  "  The  Home  Build- 
ers ;"  its  expressed  object  being,  "  to  make  for  ourselves 
such  homes  as  will  glorify  God  and  Hft  up  our  people." 
Thus  united,  the  weak  are  strengthened,  social  advan- 
tages gained,  and  the  meetings  held  take  the  place  ot 
the  old-time  dances  and  feasts.  There  are  many  inter- 
esting incidents,  which  have  come  to  our  knowledge, 
showing  how  the  turning  tide  has  also  brought  blessings 
to  the  white  man,  but  time  will  not  permit  me  to  give 
them. 

The  industries  learned  at  the  schools  prepare  the 
young  people  to  meet  the  new  conditions  of  life  and 
earn  their  living,  the  boys  as  farmers,  carpenters,  shoe- 
makers, engineers,  etc. ;  the  girls  as  seamstresses  and 
domestic  servants.  One  of  the  best  teachers  in  Alaska 
is  a  native  girl,  and  of  another  trained  in  one  of  these 
schools  the  Governor  of  Alaska  said,  "  I  have  never 
found  her  equal  as  a  servant  East  or  West.  She  plans 
and  prepares  our  meals,  does  our  marketing,  bringing 
me  her  bill  of  the  amount  of  money  expended  when  she 
needs  more.  I  have  the  utmost  confidence  in  her 
truthfulness  and  honesty,  so  much  so  that  I  rarely  ex- 
amine her  accounts." 

The  daughter  of  the  Governor  added,  "  Yes,  all  this 
is  true;  and  she  is  an  earnest  Christian.  I  have  found 
her  in  her  room,  night  after  night,  studying  her  Bible." 

A  marked  instance  in  the  fruit  of  these  mission  in- 
dustrial boarding-schools  has  just  been  sent  me  by  one 


208  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

of  the  teachers.  She  writes:  "An  Indian  boy  seven- 
teen years  old  was  brought  to  us  by  the  agent,  to  whom 
he  had  given  so  much  trouble  that  he  had  been  repeat- 
edly locked  up  in  the  guard-house.  The  agent  begged 
us  to  take  him  and  give  him  a  trial  but  advised  us  to 
keep  a  close  watch  over  him,  as  he  had  run  away  from 
the  school  where  he  had  been  previously  placed.  The 
teacher  into  whose  care  he  was  given  felt  some  hesita- 
tion about  taking  him,  fearing  his  contact  with  the  others, 
but  knowing  that  no  religious  influence  had  been 
brought  to  bear  upon  him  she  determined  to  make  him 
a  subject  of  prayer  and  do  her  best.  It  was  not  long 
before  the  sly,  sulky  look  began  to  disappear  from  his 
face,  and  instead  of  being  a  hindrance,  as  the  teacher 
had  feared,  he  began  to  be  a  help. 

"  One  day  he  came  to  the  teacher  with  a  friend,  and 
asked  her  if  she  would  allow  them  to  come  to  her  room 
one  evening  in  the  week  to  study  the  Bible,  he  felt  so 
ignorant  of  religious  truths.  He  also  sought  an  oppor- 
tunity to  talk  with  his  cousin,  who  had  been  some  time 
in  the  school,  and  she  came  to  me  and  told  me  he 
wanted  us  all  to  pray  for  him,  he  found  it  so  hard  to  do 
right.  From  the  first  the  boy  improved  steadily,  and 
when  he  went  home  to  the  reservation  for  the  summer 
he  joined  the  church  near  by,  and  while  the  missionary 
was  away  this  boy,  with  his  cousin,  held  prayer-meet- 
ings among  his  people. 

"  He  has  returned  to  us  this  fall  with  his  friend,  and 
the  boys  we  were  warned  to  watch  are  now  assisting 
us  in  every  department  of  our  work.  The  boy  is  pre- 
paring to  become  an  evangelist,  that  he  may  assist  the 
missionary  with  whose  church  he  united,  after  he  has 
finished  his  studies." 


SCHOOLS    AND    COLLEGES   IN    MISSIONS.      209 

These  schools  on  the  Indian  reservations  are 
great  civilizers.  Indians  are  especially  devoted  to  their 
children,  having  so  little  else  to  cling  to,  and  the  im- 
provement in  many  of  the  dwellings  of  the  Pima  and 
Papago  Indians,  through  the  influence  of  a  school  but 
five  years  in  operation  on  their  reservation  at  Tucson, 
Arizona,  is  a  striking  evidence  of  this  truth.  ♦They  are 
close  observers,  and,  appreciating  the  improved  sur- 
roundings and  appearance  of  their  children  when  they 
come  to  visit  them,  they  strive  to  better  their  homes 
when  they  return.  During  vacation  they  have  their 
children's  help,  and  the  good  work  goes  on  encourag- 
ingly. Farming  implements  are  bought,  sewing-ma- 
chines are  indulged  in,  and  in  some  instances  the  wo- 
men bring  the  machines  many  miles  to  the  schools  to  be 
taught  how  to  use  them.  One  is  deeply  touched  to  see 
how  sincere  efforts  to  help  their  children  are  apprecia- 
ted by  the  parents,  and  what  exertions  they  make  to 
struggle  upward  towards  civilization. 

A  unique  story,  which  carries  its  own  moral,  comes 
from  a  training-school  in  the  mountains  of  the  south. 
I  give  it  in  the  teacher's  own  words .  "  Seven  years 
ago,  one  Sabbath,  while  our  household  was  at  church 
service,  a  ragged,  dirty,  but  pretty  brown-eyed  child  of 
twelve  years  was  put  down  on  the  ground  of  this 
school.  The  people  who  left  her  wanted  to  get  rid  of 
her. 

"  Some  years  before  this  time  her  mother  had  de- 
serted her,  and  as  she  had  never  known  a  father  she 
was  quite  alone  in  the  world.  No,  she  was  not  alone, 
for  the  inherent  vices  of  her  ancestors  were  ever  round 
her  to  open  every  door  which  could  possibly  lead  her 
into  temptation.     Ker  mother's  family  was  of  the  low- 

Womaa  in  Missions.  J^ 


2IO  WOMAN   IN    MISSIONb. 

est  and  vilest  character,  and  though  the  vicinity  had 
many  of  her  kin  she  never  claimed  relationship  with 
any  of  them  after  coming  into  the  school.  In  fact,  of 
her  own  free  will  she  discarded  her  family  name  and 
chose  for  herself  the  name  of  a  woman  whom  the  world 
delights  to  honor,  a  large-hearted,  benevolent  woman 
visiting  tke  school  at  the  time  she  came  into  our  house- 
hold. She  was  very  bright,  and  apt  to  learn,  but  the 
first  time  she  was  sent  to  a  neighbor's  on  an  errand  she 
stole  a  diamond  ring.  Although  she  could  not  always 
find  diamond  rings  she  for  several  years  found  other 
things  she  thought  worth  appropriating.  She  was  not 
a  faithful  student  or  a  good  girl,  but  with  all  her  naugh- 
tiness it  was  a  constant  surprise  to  hear  her  intelligent 
answers  to  Bible  questions,  and  her  insight  into  spirit- 
ual things  was  most  remarkable.  After  living  here  four 
or  five  years  school  life  seemed  to  become  irksome  to 
her  restless  disposition,  and  we  agreed  that  she  had 
better  take  a  place  to  work  in  a  family  and  earn  her 
own  living.  We  were  not  surprised  to  learn  after  a  few 
months  that  she  was  engaged  to  be  married,  and  we 
knew  the  man  to  be  a  good,  honest  Christian.  Some 
one  has  said,  '  A  woman  never  finds  her  soul  until  she 
is  in  love,*  and  this  proved  verily  true  in  the  case  of 
our  wayward  lassie.  She  wrote  us  lovely,  apprecia- 
tive letters ;  her  heart  seemed  filled  with  gratitude  that 
she  had  been  kept  pure,  so  that  this  great  blessing 
might  come  to  her,  and  that  she  had  been  taught  how 
to  work  so  that  she  might  make  a  happy  home  for  the 
man  of  her  choice. 

"  She  was  married  about  three  years  ago.  A  year 
afterward  a  lovely  little  daughter  came  to  bless  their 
home.     She  paid  us  a  visit,  bringing  the  child  with  her, 


SCHOOLS   AND   COLLEGES    IN    MISSIONS.      211 

just  old  enough  to  trot  about.  The  young  mother 
showed  such  wisdom  in  the  training  of  the  child,  such 
deep  mother -love,  that  our  hearts  rejoiced  that  the 
Friend  of  litde  children  had  called  us  to  the  blessed 
work  of  training  mothers.  What  would  have  been  in 
place  of  that  Christian  home  in  the  quiet  mountain 
village,  had  not  this  school  been  estabhshed  for  the 
training  of  young  girls  in  the  truths  of  God's  word  and 
the  path  of  industry  and  virtue,  it  is  easy  to  .surmise." 

Ofttimes  just  this  isolation  from  early  associations, 
possible  only  in  a  boarding-school,  is  necessary  until  a 
new  life  has  had  time  to  gain  strength  and  overcome 
the  power  of  early  influences.  In  these  boarding- 
schools,  educational,  missionary,  and  industrial  training 
are  combined.  The  aim  is  to  equip  the  graduate  fully 
for  the  battle  of  life. 

From  a  school  for  colored  girls  in  Texas  comes 
this  statement  of  results  of  such  efforts  :  "  Were  I  able 
to  visit  every  church  in  the  State  I  believe  I  could  pick 
out  the  seminary  girls  at  once,  by  their  modest,  quiet, 
dignified  manner.  So  far  as  we  have  been  able  to 
follow  these  girls  after  they  leave  school  ihey  have  for 
the  most  part  been  found  faithful.  They  seemed  to 
have  passed  into  a  new  world.  Their  religion,  instead 
of  manifesting  itself  in  noisy  shouting,  finds  expression 
in  Christian  activity." 

Many  instances  are  cited  of  successful  work  in 
Sabbath  and  day  schools  maintained  by  these  girls,  of 
good  employment  obtained  through  correct  knowledge 
of  housekeeping  and  sewing  gained  here,  and  of  model 
homes,  which  are  object-lessons  of  great  value. 

I  have  not  time  to  illustrate  the  great  advantage  to 
a  selected  number  of  collegiate  education.     It  not  only 


212  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

prepares  the  natives  themselves  for  the  maintenance  of 
Christian  work  among  their  own  people,  but  raises  up 
object  -  lessons  for  their  encouragement.  In  a  large 
training-school  in  Alaska  one  of  the  teachers  is  a  na- 
tive who  has  had  the  advantage  of  higher  education, 
which,  with  innate  ability,  has  developed  so  noble  a  wo- 
man that  she  compares  favorably  with  the  best  teachers 
in  the  school.  The  children  look  up  to  her  as  an  ex- 
ample of  what  is  possible,  and  sometimes  ask,  when 
making  extra  efforts,  "  Can  I  ever  become  like  Yonkit- 
ti  Thlinkitti  (our  ThUnkit  lady)  ?"  We  rank  among 
our  most  successful  teachers  in  the  different  fields  of 
Home  Missions  to-day  many  who  through  the  aid  of 
higher  education  are  our  co-laborers  for  the  elevation 
of  their  own  people.  We  should  also  lend  a  hand  to 
these  untutored  people,  through  higher  education,  that 
they  may  stand  upon  a  plane  by  our  side  and  compel 
respect  from  those  who  would  otherwise  oppress  them. 
God  has  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  to  dwell 
together  upon  the  face  of  the  whole  earth,  giving  dif- 
ferent endowments  to  different  people,  and  the  elevation 
of  any  one  race  adds  to  the  wealth  of  the  whole.  We 
owe  them  this  help  upward  by  our  own  debt  to  those 
who  rescued  our  ancestors  from  savagery.  Nay,  more. 
A  higher  obligation  rests  upon  us.  We  are  as  much 
bound  to  give  these  uncivilized  people  all  we  have 
received  of  Christianity  and  education  as  we  are  to 
pay  any  debt  for  "  value  received  ;"  for  the  "  value  re- 
ceived" by  us  has  been  primarily  from  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  himself,  and  the  utmost  we  can  do  for  the  most 
degraded  of  our  fellow  beings  will  not  compare  with  the 
magnitude  of  grace  which  he  has  shown  toward  us. 


EVANGELISTIC  MISSIONARY  WORK.  213 


PLACE  OF  WOMAN'S  MISSIONARY  WORK 

AMONG  THE  EVANGELISTIC  FORCES 

OF  THE  CHURCH. 

BY  MRS.   A.  F.  SCHAUFFLER. 

In  no  department  of  church  work  in  these  United 
States  has  there  been  seen  a  greater  change  during  the 
past  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  than  in  the  develop- 
ment of  woman's  power  in  organized  effort.  Doubt- 
less this  change  had  its  origin  in  the  splendid  service 
accomplished  by  our  women  during  the  war,  when 
they  first  learned  to  use  the  strength  which  comes 
from  close  affiliation  for  active  service.  Any  one  who 
takes  the  pains  to  look  through  a  file  of  newspapers 
dating  from  i860  to  1865  will  be  struck  with  the  fre- 
quent mention  of  Ladies  Aid  Societies,  and  the  Aux- 
iliaries to  the  Christian  and  Sanitary  commissions. 
Here  in  these  working  bands,  when  husbands  and 
brothers  were  at  the  front,  in  want  of  comforts  and 
even  necessities,  our  women  learned  how  to  cooperate  in 
united  service,  because  they  were  stirred  by  the  same 
impulses  and  urged  on  by  the  same  affectionate  desire 
to  help  loved  ones  in  times  of  need.  The  red  flannel 
shirts,  the  knitted  socks  and  mittens,  the  hospital 
stores  of  all  kinds,  bore  witness,  in  their  wonderful  ac- 
cumulation, to  the  power  of  the  women  when  hand 
was  joined  to  hand.  Each  woman  alone  felt  she  could 
do  but  little,  but  with  a  force  of  like-minded  sisters  by 
her  side  what  was  there  that  she  could  not  do  ?     As 


214  WOMAN  IN    MISSIONS. 

Florence  Nightingale,  in  the  hospital  at  Scutari,  broke 
forcibly  the  bands  of  red  tape  which  had  kept  needful 
supplies  from  her  English  soldiers,  so  our  women  rose 
to  protest  against  needless  delays,  and  political  jobs, 
in  our  hospital  service,  and  saved  by  prompt  action 
many  a  useful  life. 

Now  what  can  be  more  easy  to  understand  than 
the  fact  that  the  women  who  had  wielded  this  power 
should  realize  its  possession  when  the  need  for  its 
exercise  in  war  times  had  happily  passed  away  ?  And 
when  the  condition  of  their  less  fortunate  sisters  was 
presented  to  them  in  forcible  ways  what  is  more  nat- 
ural than  that  they  should  again  form  themselves  into 
working  bands  to  strive  to  ameliorate  those  con- 
ditions ?  Ah !  women  are  ready  and  anxious  to  work 
as  soon  as  they  know  the  need  and  understand  the 
way  in  which  it  can  be  met.  Lack  of  interest  only 
comes  from  lack  of  knowledge,  and  the  wide  spreading 
of  missionary  facts  brings  as  a  corollary  widespread 
missionary  efforts. 

And  now  we  face  the  question — What  is  the  place 
of  Woman's  Missionary  Work  among  the  Evangelistic 
Forces  of  the  Church? 

We  can  say,  in  reply,  that  it  is  a  power  for  good 
in  four  ways. 

First,  in  diffusing  missionary  information.  The 
power  exerted  by  our  women's  societies  in  spreading 
missionary  intelligence  cannot  be  over  -  estimated. 
Oftentimes  the  men  are  too  tired,  or  too  absorbed  in 
business,  to  read  for  themselves  the  Missionary  Mag- 
azine, but  they  will  listen  with  pleasure  to  the  striking 
fact,  or  the  interesting  story,  as  it  is  related  to  them 
at  the  dinner  table,  or  beside   the  evening  fireside. 


EVANGELISTIC  MISSIONARY   WORK.  21$ 

Women  are  natural  hero-worshippers,  and  when  the 
heroes  are  such  men  as  Carey,  Livingston,  or  Patteson, 
how  easily  they  will  speak  of  them,  and  their  work, 
and  the  progress  made  on  the  fields  which  they  opened 
up  to  the  attention  of  the  church.  The  study  of  mis- 
sionary literature  covers  a  broad  ground,  and  no  one 
need  be  afraid  of  being  narrow  minded  who  pursues  it 
thoroughly.  All  political  changes  must  be  followed 
in  order  to  understand  the  difficulties,  or  the  new  privi- 
leges, of  our  missionaries ;  good  books  of  travel  must 
be  read,  to  know  about  the  people  among  whom  they 
go ;  the  different  religions  of  the  world  must  be  un- 
derstood, that  we  may  see  where  the  darkest  spots  are 
and  the  greatest  need  of  light ;  social  problems  must 
be  considered  ;  and  have  not  the  missionaries  them- 
selves made  contributions  to  the  ethnological,  botanical, 
meteorological  and  philological  knowledge  of  the 
world  which  it  would  be  a  liberal  education  to  master  ? 
Our  women  are  touching  ail  this  mass  of  information 
at  many  points,  and  no  young  girl  prepares  a  paper 
for  a  missionary  meeting,  on  the  stations,  the  medical 
work  or  the  evangelistic  work  of  any  given  field,  but 
she  becomes  wiser  in  the  very  preparation,  no  matter 
how  simple  her  effort  may  be.  A  deacon  in  a  New 
England  Church  was  once  asked,  in  a  prayer-meeting, 
to  pray  for  a  certain  mission.  He  excused  himself  on 
the  ground  that  he  did  not  know  enough  of  that  mis- 
sion to  pray  for  it  intelligently  !  In  fact  he  did  not  know 
whether  to  ask  for  success  on  missionary  effort  there 
or  to  give  thanks  that  such  success  had  been  given.  In 
the  women's  societies  such  information  is  so  constantly 
disseminated  that  the  members  know  the  condition  of 
each  mission  field  and  can  pray  with  intelligence. 


2l6  WOMAN  IN  MISSIONS. 

In  some  societies  a  few  choice  books  are  procured 
from  time  to  time  and  loaned  to  thie  members  for  a 
small  fee,  the  money  thus  gained  going  towards  the 
purchase  of  new  books.  It  would  be  a  capital  plan  at 
some  auxiliary  meetings  if  different  ladies  would  give 
brief  reviews  of  such  books,  stimulating  interest  and 
creating  an  appetite  for  a  fuller  acquaintance  with  the 
books  themselves.  Then  the  maps  which  are  displayed 
at  the  women's  meetings  do  their  own  part  in  promo- 
ting intelligent  interest  in  the  progress  of  the  kingdom. 
Can  you  not  think  of  many  churches  where  a  mission- 
ary map  is  never  shown  except  in  the  women's  meet- 
ings? The  necessity  for  maps  is  illustrated  by  the 
fact  of  an  old  lady  lingering  after  a  meeting  to  study  a 
map  of  China.  When  asked  if  any  station  could  be 
pointed  out  to  her,  she  said,  "  No,  I  was  only  looking 
for  Yucatan."  The  foundation  of  all  true  interest  is 
knowledge,  and  is  not  the  foundation  well  laid  in 
women's  meetings,  with  missionary  magazines,  books 
and  maps  ? 

Besides  diffusing  information,  women's  societies  are 
of  great  value  in  forming  a  sympathetic  link  with  the 
workers  on  the  field.  There  is  in  these  days  such  an 
increase  of  postal  facilities  that  none  of  our  missiona- 
ries suffer  from  such  isolation  as  was  common  a  gene- 
ration ago,  but  how  much  nearer  is  home  brought  to 
the  workers  in  China  or  Japan  by  the  bright,  warm- 
hearted letters  of  the  stayers  at  home.  Kenneth  Mc- 
Kensie  writes  from  North  China  to  his  friends  in  Eng- 
land, "  Let  me  tell  you  of  six  young  Chinamen  whom 
you  can  pray  for  by  name,  and  then  you  will  feel  you 
are  a  part  of  the  Chinese  Mission."  How  many  are 
feeling  just  in  that  way !      Their  knowledge  of  a  field 


EVANGELISTIC   MISSIONARY   WORK.  217 

and  its  needs  being  so  perfect,  their  sympathy  with  the 
workers  there  so  entire,  their  prayers  so  earnest,  that 
they  are,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  a  part  of  that 
mission.  And  then  the  loving  gifts  which  willing 
hands  send  out  in  boxes  !  How  plainly  they  speak  to 
our  sisters  far  away  of  the  love  for  them  and  for  our 
common  Saviour  which  influenced  the  giver. 

Secondly.  Woman's  missionary  zeal  is  a  power 
in  planning  and  carrying  on  specific  work  for  women 
and  children.  It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  speak  of 
the  Zenana  work  in  India,  the  household  visits  in 
China,  the  schools  in  Africa,  or  the  mothers'  meetings 
in  our  own  great  cities.  How  clearly  all  these  depart- 
ments of  woman's  work  for  women  stand  out  before  us  ! 
Men  could  not  do  this  work,  and  if  women  were  not 
doing  it  it  would  not  be  done.  Think  of  the  schools 
organized  and  maintained,  at  home  and  abroad,  through 
the  efforts  of  our  missionary  societies — and,  remember, 
school  work  is  not  the  mere  teaching  of  a  book,  it  is  a 
moral  and  spiritual  force  ;  a  fragrance  that  gladdens;  a 
breath  that  gives  help ;  a  touch  that  quickens  into  life  ; 
it  is  a  divine  atmosphere  in  which  young  souls  thrive. 

Listen  to  the  testimony  of  Miss  Fletcher,  who  has 
recendy  gone  out  to  China.  She  writes  from  Hong 
Kong  : 

"  I  have  been  a  few  times  to  a  cottage  meeting  in 
a  poor  street  near  us.  I  only  go  to  look  on,  keep  my 
ears  open,  and  learn  what  I  can.  Our  Bible-woman 
seems  to  talk  very  simply,  and  some  of  the  women  who 
have  listened  to  the  gospel  message  for  a  long  time  are 
gradually  taking  it  in.  They  have  souls  to  be  saved 
and  hearts  that  can  feel  joy  and  sorrow,  but  the  brains 
of  the   poor  Chinese  women    are  not  called  forth  by 


2l8  WOMAN  IN  MISSIONS. 

their  every-day  life  and  it  is  a  slow  process  to  set  them 
in  motion,  especially  regarding  the  soul  and  eternity." 

The  devotion  and  perseverance  of  Mrs.  Hemmings 
of  South  America,  who  has  met  with  such  success  in 
her  work  among  the  women  of  Terra  del  Fuego,  are 
inspiring.  The  Yahgan  Indians  of  this  region  are 
genuine  savages,  but  she  set  about  teaching  the  women, 
first  of  all,  to  be  industrious  and  useful.  A  sort  of 
mothers'  meeting  was  gathered  in  her  kitchen  and  she 
attempted  to  teach  the  women  to  knit.  The  counting 
of  stitches  seemed  an  insuperable  difficulty,  for  the 
Yahgans  are  only  able  to  count  up  to  three,  but  Mrs. 
Hemmings  was  ingenious  in  contriving  ways  to  impart 
the  necessary  knowledge,  and  these  women  now  do 
excellent  knitting-work  of  all  sorts.  This  is  a  decided 
triumph,  when  it  is  remembered  that  Darwin  declared 
these  people  to  be  incapable  of  moral  or  intellectual 
elevation.  Mrs.  Hemmings  next  determined  to  teach 
them  to  spin  their  wool,  and  on  returning  to  Eng- 
land for  a  holiday  learned  the  art  of  carding,  dyeing, 
spinning  and  weaving  wool,  in  order  to  teach  the  poor 
Indians  this  industry.  She  has  mastered  the  art,  and  a 
few  weeks  ago  sailed  from  England  with  a  loom  for 
Oooshooia. 

At  first  sight  it  seems  a  waste  of  time  for  an  edu- 
cated woman,  full  of  evangelistic  zeal,  to  spend  her 
time  in  teaching  poor  women  to  knit,  but  if,  as  the 
apostle  says,  if  by  any  means  she  can  win  some  to 
Christ,  how  can  the  time  be  better  spent  than  in  open- 
ing their  darkened  minds,  first  to  human  kindness, 
then  to  practical  usefulness,  and  lastly  to  the  gospel 
truth  ?  And  the  same  is  true  in  our  "  Mothers' 
Unions,"   and   "  Helping    Hands "  in   our   own   great 


EVANGELISTIC    MISSIONARY   WORK.  219 

cities.  If  you  win  the  women's  hearts  how  much 
easier  it  is  for  you  to  give,  and  for  them  to  receive, 
the  offer  of  salvation.  Let  us  not  forget  also  that 
in  the  women's  meetings  many  a  woman  evangel- 
ist is  being  trained,  so  that  the  missionary  will  multi- 
ply her  power  for  usefulness  by  sending  out  those  who 
can  tell  the  gospel  story  where  her  own  voice  could 
never  reach.  A  personal  invitation  to  come  to  Christ 
carries  with  it  the  divine  blessing  and  brings  oftentimes 
the  hoped-for  result.  Christ  might  have  given  the 
gospel  message  to  angels  to  deliver,  but  you  will  re- 
member he  gave  it  into  the  keeping  of  Christians. 
Even  when  there  was  an  angel  on  the  spot,  at  the 
house  of  Cornelius,  he  was  not  to  tell  the  story  of  the 
cross,  but  Peter  was  to  come  on  purpose.  Let  us  be 
true  to  our  trust,  and  carry  the  gospel  standard  brave- 
ly, even  as  it  was  carried  by  such  women  as  Fidelia 
Fiske,  Mrs.  Judson,  Mrs.  Moffat  or  Miss  Rankin.  Are 
not  our  own  missionaries  on  the  field  a  constant  remind- 
er to  put  down  selfishness  and  live  for  others  ? 

The  field  of  usefulness  is  so  wide  that  more  work- 
ers are  needed  as  much  at  home  as  abroad.  Women 
have  opened  up  a  thousand  forms  of  helpful  effort, 
such  as  day  nurseries,  industrial  schools.  Bands  of 
Hope  and  Helping  Hands,  and  in  all  these  the  root  is 
to  be  found  in  the  desire  to  show  the  love  of  Christ  in 
practical  form.  All  this  is  good,  very  good,  but  what 
an  opening  there  is  for  volunteers  to  take  up  this  exist- 
ing, well-organized  work,  and  release  those  of  more 
experience  that  they  may  have  leisure  to  plan  new 
efforts  in  directions  where  they  are  much  needed. 
What  a  call  there  is  for  well-chosen  ways  to  help  the 
blind  girls  of  China,  and  the  outcast  women  of  Bom- 


220  WOMAN    IN   MISSIONS. 

bay  !  Are  we  just  to  stand  still,  when  we  hear  such 
calls  as  these,  and  say  "  our  hands  are  full,"  or  are  we 
to  press  on  to  the  greater  heights  of  consecrated  effort  ? 
Do  we  realize  that  the  same  Lord  who  has  opened 
closed  doors  in  answer  to  our  prayers  is  as  able  to 
give  us  a  victorious  entrance  ?  God  is  as  able  to  help 
us  do  the  work  as  to  show  us  where  it  lies. 

It  is  the  old  story :  a  few  are  doing  the  work  that 
many  should  be  doing,  and  the  burden  is  heavy. 
Women's  missionary  societies  will  never  have  their 
right  place  among  evangelistic  forces  of  the  church 
until  every  woman  in  the  church  recognizes  that  she 
has  a  share  in  this  great  privilege  of  work,  and  if  un- 
able to  give  her  personal  service  will  give  her  sympa- 
thy and  her  prayers.  Let  us  ask  you  one  question  : 
if  you  are  not  putting  all  the  energy  of  which  you  are 
capable  into  this  work,  what  are  you  saving  it  for? 

Thirdly.  Women's  missionary  societies  are  a 
power  in  promoting  systematic  giving. 

How  truly  Dr.  Pierson  says  that  there  are  "  regions 
beyond,  of  consecrated  giving."  Our  women's  socie- 
ties are  a  power  in  the  way  they  have  developed  this 
idea  and  have  brought  the  small  sums  into  the  treasury 
of  the  Boards  which  might  otherwise  have  never  been 
gathered.  When  a  woman  once  has  her  heart  set  on 
giving  to  a  cause  she  loves  she  will  find  a  way.  If 
she  cannot  find  a  way  she  will  make  one.  Listen  to 
this  short  item,  which  covers  years  of  drudgery : 

"  Rebecca  Cox,  of  Galway,  N.  Y.,  has  left  to  the 
Baptist  Woman's  Missionary  Society  a  legacy  of  $800, 
earned  by  weaving  rag  carpets." 

I  think  that  money  so  eartied  and  given  goes  far. 

It  is  most  touching  to  hear  of  the  loving  sacrifices 


EVANGELISTIC   MISSIONARY  WORK.  221 

made  on  mission  fields  by  those  who  have  recently 
come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth.  Miss  Gordon 
Cummings  tells  of  the  "  Lord's  rice  box,"  which  the 
native  Christians  of  Ceylon  fill  from  their  scanty  store. 
Mrs.  Hume  of  Bombay  says  that  the  native  girls  in 
her  school  there  earned  five  dollars  by  sewing,  which, 
after  long  discussion,  they  decided  to  send  to  help  the 
City  Mission  in  New  Haven !  I  often  think  of  what  a 
poor  lad  in  one  of  our  mission  chapels  in  New  York 
wrote  to  me  when  sending  ten  dollars  for  missionary 
work  in  India.  It  was  simply  this :  "  I  think  the 
devil  needs  fighting  with  money  as  well  as  with  pray- 
ers ;"  and  it  has  been  well  said  that  we  have  no  right 
to  pray  until  we  have  given. 

You  have  doubtless  heard  Professor  Drummond's 
story  of  the  Italian  coast  guard  who  reported  to  the 
Government  in  regard  to  a  shipwreck  :  "  We  saw  the 
wreck,  and  we  attempted  to  give  every  assistance 
possible  through  the  speaking-trumpet ;  notwithstand- 
ing which,  next  morning  twenty  corpses  were  washed 
ashore."  I  am  afraid  some  are  working  in  just  such 
ways  as  this — with  words  but  no  deeds. 

But  one  most  gratifying  sign  has  been  seen  of 
late  years,  and  that  is  the  desire  of  women  of  means  to 
go  at  their  own  charges  into  missionary  work,  or  to 
pay  for  a  substitute.  May  God  hasten  the  time  when 
it  will  be  the  rule  for  every  well-to-do  Christian  wo- 
man to  pay  the  salary  of  a  worker  before  she  plans 
elaborate  toilettes  for  herself  or  lavish  expenditure  on 
the  appointments  of  her  table.  Women's  missionary 
societies  promote  the  spread  of  knowledge :  with 
knowledge  comes  interest,  with  interest  comes  the  de- 
sire to  give  material  aid,  and  when  the  heart  is  on  fire 


222  WOMAN    IN   MISSIONS. 

with  love  and  gratitude  what  bounds  are  there  to  the 
interest  and  the  desire  to  help  ? 

A  little  money  goes  far  on  the  foreign  field.  Lis- 
ten to  this  item,  cut  from  a  recent  number  of  the 
"  Christian  "  : 

"  In  illustration  of  what  can  be  done  with  a  small 
amount  of  money,  Rev.  Mark  WiUiams,  of  Kalgan, 
China,  explained  at  the  recent  Mission  Conference  in 
CUfton  Springs  what  loo  dollars  will  do  in  a  year,  in 
North  China,  i.  It  will  maintain  a  boys'  day-school 
of  twenty-five,  as  it  will  pay  the  rent  of  the  room  and 
salary  of  the  teacher.  2.  It  will  maintain  three  boys 
in  a  boarding  school.  3.  It  will  pay  the  salary  of  two 
native  preachers.  4.  It  will  pay  the  wages  of  two 
colporters,  who  not  only  sell  but  explain  the  Bible.  5. 
It  will  support  a  station  class  of  twenty  men  who 
spend  all  their  time  for  three  months  in  Bible  study." 

Last,  but  not  least,  Woman's  Missionary  Work  is 
a  power  in  the  training  of  the  young  to  an  intelligent 
interest  in  missions. 

The  training  of  the  young  in  Mission  Bands  falls 
upon  the  women  who  have  themselves  been  trained  in 
the  women's  societies  ;  and  what  a  field  of  usefulness 
is  opened  here !  To  train  the  boys  and  girls  of  the 
present  time  in  a  wise  interest  in  missions  is  to  help  to 
evangelize  the  world,  for  in  a  few  years  they  will  be  at 
the  front  in  all  the  great  activities  of  life,  and  will  have 
the  power  and  the  will  to  influence  largely  their  time 
and  generation.  Only  seven  years  of  this  century  re- 
main to  us.  Shall  we  make  them  the  best  years  the 
century  has  seen  in  concentrated  efforts  to  advance  the 
coming  of  the  Kingdom  by  wise  planning  and  vigor- 
ous acdon  ?     Shall  we  show  to  our  young  people,  by 


EVANGELISTIC    MISSIONARY    WORK.  223 

our  lives,  what  are  the  things  that  we  most  surely  be- 
lieve: are  they  the  promises  of  God,  or  the  value  of 
literature  and  art  in  the  uplifting  of  the  world  ? 

It  is  impossible  to  say  when  a  child  is  too  young 
to  receive  a  permanent  impression  in  regard  to  mis- 
sionary work  which  may  influence  the  whole  life.  Miss 
Agnew,  who  worked  so  long  and  with  such  great  suc- 
cess in  Ceylon,  formed  her  intention  to  be  a  missionary 
when  she  was  only  eight  years  of  age,  after  hearing  an 
address  on  the  foreign  work.  She  was  thirty  before 
her  circumstances  were  such  that  she  was  free  to  go, 
but  her  purpose  never  faltered.  Let  every  woman  who 
works  as  a  Band  leader  be  full  of  a  cheerful  courage 
as  she  prays  to  God  that  some  such  noble  workers 
may  come  from  the  young  people  whom  she  is  training 
in  the  best  of  all  knowledge.  Shall  our  young  people 
know  well  about  those  whom  the  world  calls  heroes 
and  be  ignorant  of  the  heroes  of  the  Cross  ?  Shall 
they  have  the  life  history  of  Charles  of  Sweden,  or 
Peter  the  Great,  at  command  and  know  nothing  of 
Gilmour  of  Mongolia,  or  Mackay  of  Uganda?  Is  it 
not  time  that  in  our  Christian  day-schools  there  should 
be  introduced  a  History  of  Missions?  Is  not  the 
progress  of  Christ's  kingdom  of  more  importance  than 
the  "  Rise  and  Fall  "  of  ancient  Rome !  What  a  sphere 
is  opened  here  for  the  influence  of  Christian  women ! 

We  form  the  best  idea  of  the  value  of  anything  in 
this  world  by  thinking  of  the  void  there  would  be  if  it 
did  not  exist.  Dwell  for  a  moment  on  the  loss  there 
would  be  to  the  Evangelistic  Forces  of  the  church  if 
all  the  women's  work  were  blotted  out.  Think  of  the 
schools  which  would  close  their  doors,  of  the  medical 
work  which  would  be  forsaken,  the  lonely  lives    in  the 


224  WOMAN   IN    MISSIONS. 

zenanas  no  longer  brightened,  the  mothers'  meet- 
ings given  up,  the  evangelistic  tours  abandoned, 
and  the  piles  of  Bibles  and  tracts  which  would  be 
left  undistributed.  Think  of  the  lepers  left  in  hopeless 
misery,  the  bUnd  no  longer  taught  to  read,  and,  turn- 
ing your  thoughts  homeward,  look  at  the  empty  boxes 
in  the  Treasury,  which  once  the  women  filled  with 
loving  zeal,  and  listen  to  the  quiet  which  prevails 
where  earnest  voices  were  once  heard  in  prayer.  Do 
you  like  to  study  this  picture  ?  Does  not  every  fibre 
in  your  nature  call  out  in  protest  ? 

But  pause,  before  going  as  far  as  this,  and  im- 
agine that  you  simply  took  away  from  any  given 
church  the  woman  most  filled  with  the  missionary 
spirit,  putting  in  her  place  a  worldly-minded  Christian. 
Would  the  church  or  the  community  notice  the  dif- 
ference ?  Perhaps  not.  But  take  away  a  dozen  such 
women,  and  fill  their  places  with  indifferent,  careless  or 
fashionable  women,  and  suddenly  you  would  find 
people  saying,  "  What  is  wrong  ?  The  life  of  the 
church  has  disappeared." 

Take  away  all  the  women  who  are  interested  in 
Christian  Temperance  work  and  fill  their  places  with 
those  who  take  a  glass  of  wine  daily  and  love  to  see  it 
on  their  tables.  Would  there  not  be  a  distinct  loss  in 
the  moral  tone  of  the  church  ? 

Remove  all  the  wom.en  full  of  zeal  for  City  Mis- 
sions, with  their  varied  activities,  and  put  in  those 
women  who  spend  their  summers  in  Europe  and  their 
winters  in  Florida,  in  entire  disregard  of  their  duties  not 
only  as  Christians  but  as  citizens,  and  would  not  the 
city  begin  to  notice  something  wrong  ? 

Then  suppress  all  those  who  care  with  intensity 


EVANGELISTIC   MISSIONARY   WORK.  22$ 

of  purpose  for  home  missions  and  who  urge  the  for- 
mation of  the  industrial  schools  which  are  to  raise 
the  standard  of  education  throughout  our  land,  and 
fill  their  places  with  silly  women  as  devoid  of  patriot- 
ism as  of  true  religion.  How  long  would  it  be  before 
the  church  and  the  country  would  cry  out,  "  Where  are 
the  workers  ?" 

Then  take  away  those  women  who  have  the  gift  of 
enlarged  vision,  and  whose  eyes  are  open  to  the  need 
in  Japan  or  Korea,  and  whose  ears  are  quick  to  hear 
the  call  for  help  from  their  sisters  far  away,  and  put  in 
their  stead  a  group  of  women  whose  lives  begin  and 
end  at  home,  in  selfish  devotion  to  their  own  families, 
and  is  there  not  a  distinct  loss  of  spiritual  uplifting 
power  in  the  church  ?  In  such  a  way  as  this  perhaps 
we  can  best  judge  of  the  value  of  woman's  missionary 
work.  The  women  who  do  the  work  are  themselves  a 
power,  and  they  could  be  ill-spared  from  our  churches 
and  from  our  land. 

Let  the  last  words  of  the  Women's  Congress  of 
Missions  be  like  a  bugle  call,  to  urge  upon  the  women 
of  our  churches  to  be  more  active  in  diffusing  informa- 
tion ;  more  zealous  in  carrying  on  the  old  work ;  more 
wise  in  planning  for  the  new  ;  more  careful  in  systematic 
giving,  and  more  devoted  to  the  proper  training  of  our 
young  people.  So  shall  we  hasten  the  coming  of  the 
KINGDOM. 


Woman  tn  Mlssloni. 


15 


226  WOMAN   IN   MISSIONS. 

THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD. 

Written  for  the  Woman's  Congress  of  Missions,  Chicago,  1893. 
BY    EDNA   DEAN    PROCTOR, 

What  was  the  song  the  angels  sang, 

At  midnight  over  Bethlehem's  plain — 
The  song  that  made  the  sad  earth  young 

With  the  burst  of  its  far,  celestial  strain  ? 
Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  thrilled 

The  air  with  the  bliss  of  heaven ;  and  then, 
To  a  softer  note  the  song  was  stilled : 

And  on  earth  peace,  good  will  toward  men. 
O  holy  song,  transcendent  night, 

When  the  boon  of  the  waiting  years  was  won  ; 
When  faith  was  lost  in  rapturous  sight, 

And  the  Kingdom  of  God  on  earth  begun  ! 

The  Kingdom  of  God  !     Was  it  lands  and  seas, 

Temples,  palaces,  power  and  pride  ? 
Learning,  and  beauty,  and  lordly  ease  ? 

Nay  !  earth's  glories  were  swept  aside — 
Pitiful,  passing,  phantom  things — 

Fading  as  stars  when  dusk  is  done 
And  morning  soars  on  radiant  wings 

To  herald  the  great,  victorious  sun  ! 
The  Kingdom  of  God  is  love  and  peace ; 

Brotherhood  ;  purity  undefiled  ; 
Sacrifice  ;  service  ;  care's  release  ; 

The  simple  trust  of  the  little  child ; 


THE    KINGDOM    OF   GOD.  227 

Bliss  for  the  soul  though  joys  depart ; 

Thirst  for  righteousness ;  high  endeavor  ; 
The  reign  of  the  meek  and  lowly  heart ; 

Rest  in  the  Lord  for  ever  and  ever. 

And  who  were  his  court,  and  what  his  throne — 

This  Prince  whose  advent  thrilled  the  air  ? 
Were  trumpets  of  fame  before  him  blown  ? 

Did  carving  and  purple  his  couch  prepare, 
And  rabbi  and  haughty  Roman  tread 

With  joy  in  his  steps  by  mount  and  mart  ? 
Ah,  no  !  to  the  poor  and  outcast  wed, 
No  place  had  he  to  pillow  his  head, 

And  his  only  throne  was  the  loving  heart. 

*  But  oh,  the  freedom,  and  oh,  the  rest 

He  brought  to  the  prisoned,  burdened  soul ! 

Come  unto  me,  was  his  sweet  behest. 
And  leave  for  ever  your  care  and  dole ; 

And  Oh,  his  pity  and  tender  cheer 
For  the  weary  women  who  thronged  his  way  : 

The  living  water,  the  lightened  bier. 

The  full  forgiveness,  the  silent  tear. 
For  sister  and  mother  and  friend  were  they  ; 
And  to  hei  who  touched  his  robe,  to  glow 

With  the  tide  of  life  through  her  veins  that  stole. 
Gracious  he  answered,  Daughter,  go 

In  peace,  thy  faith  hath  made  thee  whole. 
And  when  to  his  glory  entering  in. 

And  hovering  heaven  and  earth  between. 
The  watcher  his  earliest  word  to  win 

Was  Mary  the  loving,  the  Magdalene  ! 


228  WOMAN  IN  MISSIONS. 

We  see  him  not.     He  walks  no  more 

By  Zion  and  Jordan  and  Galilee, 
But,  sweet  as  the  song  the  night  winds  bore, 
And  rich  with  meaning  unknown  before, 
His  words  ring  out  as  they  rang  of  yore, 

Go  FORTH,  AND  TELL  THE  WORLD  OF  ME  ! 

O  Heart  of  Love  !  we  have  heard  thy  call ; 

And  in  peril  and  exile,  grief  and  blame. 
We  have  followed  thy  feet  where  the  shadows  fall 

That  the  wave  and  the  wild  might  praise  thy  name ! 
Our  dead  are  wrapped  in  the  polar  snows ; 

They  sleep  by  the  palms  of  tropic  seas ; 
The  wind  of  the  desert  above  them  blows  ; 
The  coral  island  their  slumber  knows  : 

They  who  have  drained  thy  cup  to  the  lees 
And  counted  it  joy,  yea,  blessedness, 

To  be  spent  for  thee  and  for  thee  to  die ! 
So  they  have  gained,  through  toil  and  stress, 

"  Well  done  !"  where  the  river  of  life  goes  by. 
Their  fields  are  ours  ;  and  lo  !  a  song 

From  the  countless  reapers  swells  to  thee. 
As  they  bind  the  sheaves  while  the  days  are  long, 

And  dream  of  the  harvest  yet  to  be : 

"  Through  storm  and  sun  the  age  draws  on 

When  heaven  and  earth  shall  meet, 
For  the  Lord  has  said  that  glorious 

He  will  make  the  place  of  his  feet ; 
And  the  grass  may  die  on  the  summer  hills, 

The  flower  fade  by  the  river, 
But  our  God  is  the  same  through  endless  years 

And  his  word  shall  stand  for  ever. 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD.  229 

"  '  What  of  the  night,  O  watchman  set 

To  mark  the  dawn  of  day  ?* 
'  The  wind  blows  fair  from  the  morning  star, 

And  the  shadows  flee  away. 
Dark  are  the  vales,  but  the  mountains  glow 

As  the  light  its  splendor  flings, 
And  the  Sun  of  righteousness  comes  up 

With  healing  in  his  wings.' 

"  Shine  on,  shine  on,  O  blessed  Sun, 

Through  all  the  round  of  heaven. 
Till  the  darkest  vale  and  the  farthest  isle 

All  to  thy  light  are  given ! 
Till  the  desert  and  the  wilderness 

As  Sharon's  plain  shall  be, 
And  the  love  of  the  Lord  shall  fill  the  earth 

As  the  waters  fill  the  sea !" 

The  song  is  one  with  the  angels'  peace  ; 

The  toil  is  the  path  the  Master  trod  : 
Hail  to  that  day  of  blest  release 
When  the  woes  of  the  weary  world  shall  cease 

In  the  light  and  joy  of  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GoD  ! 


"^^]\[ew  JVIissioiiapy  Bool^s.-§i-- 


L  American  Hsrces  on  Mission  Fields* 

Edited  by  Rev.  H.  C.  Haydn,  D.  D.     i2mo.    $i  25. 

Brief  biographies  of  eminent  missionaries  by  competent 
hands.  The  names  of  the  missionaries  are:  Mrs.  Clara  Gray 
Schauffler,  Henry  Sergeant  West,  M.  D.,  Rev.  David  Tappan 
Stoddard,  Asahel  Grant,  M.  D.,  Rev.  William  Goodell,  D.  D., 
Rev.  Titus  Coan,  Rev.  Harrison  Gray  Otis  Dwight,  S.  W.  Wil- 
liams, LL.  D.,  Rev.  E.  C.  Bridgman,  D.  D.,  Miss  Julia  A.  Rap- 
pleye,  Rev.  Adoniram  Judson,  Rev.  W.  G.  Schauffler,  D.  D., 
Rev.  John  Eliot. 

Among  the  writers  are  Drs.  Hamlin,  Gilman,  Haydn, 
Bartlett,  and  others. 

"  A  capital  book  to  put  into  the  hands  of  our  young  peo- 
ple." NORTHW^ESTERN   PRF.SBYTERIAN. 

"  Our  monthly  concerts  would  not  be  so  devoid  of  inter- 
est if  every  giver  for  missions  should  possess  this  volume." 

.MISSION  FIELD. 

IL  Social  and  Religious  Life  in  the  Orient 

By  Krikon  Hagop  Basmajian.  With  many  illustrations  by 
native  artists.     247  pp.     i2mo.     $1. 

An  attractive  book  by  a  native  Armenian  (now  a  Protes- 
tant) on  the  country  (Turkey),  the  missionaries,  the  Govern- 
ment, the  religion,  social  life,  customs,  and  amusements. 
Profusely  illustrated. 

IIL  Seven. Years  in  Ceylon. 

Stories  of  Mission  Life.  By  Mary  and  Margaret  W.  Leitch. 
With  portraits  and  over  one  hundred  illustrations.  170  pp. 
Quarto.     75  cts. 

A  very  pretty  book,  giving  actual  every-day  experiences 
in  mission-life  during  the  seven  years  spent  in  Ceylon  by 
these  gifted  ladies. 

^n]QriQB.t]  Tract  Society, 


Nrw  Books. 

FROM  OLIVET  TO  PATMOS:  The  First  Chris- 
tian Century  in  Picture  and  Story. 

By  Mrs.  L.  S.  Houghton.  Quarto.  Profusely 
illustrated.     $i  50. 

This  is  a  continuation  of  Mrs.  Houghton's  popular  series  of 
Bible  books,  of  which  "The  Bible  in  Picture  and  Story"  and 
"  The  Life  of  Christ  in  Picture  and  Story  "  have  already  been 
published.  It  gives  the  story  of  the  apostles  and  the  interesting 
history  of  tlie  Christian  Church  in  the  first  century,  introducing 
an  account  of  the  Epistles  in  the  order  of  the  history. 

It  forms  a  very  entertaining  narrative  for  either  old  or 
young,  which  is  rendered  still  more  attractive  by  numerous  and 
excellent  illustrations. 

By  the  satne  author,  and  tcniform. 

THE  BIBLE  IN  PICTURE  AND  STORY. 

Quarto.  269  illustrations,  many  of  them  full-page. 
240  pp.     Cloth,  $1   25  ;    gilt  extra,  $1   75. 

The  same  book  in  German,  with  the  same  illus- 
trations and  the  same  price. 

"  This  volume  is  adapted  to  catch  the  attention  and  win  the 
interest  of  every  child.  There  is  a  picture  on  every  page  of  the 
two  hundred  and  forty  which  make  up  the  handsome  quarto." 

CHRISTI.A.N    INTELLIGENCER. 

LIFE  OF  CHRIST  IN  PICTURE  AND  STORY. 

Quarto.  296  pp.  190  illustrations.  $1  50 ;  gilt 
edges,  $2. 

The  same  book  in  German,  with  the  same  illus- 
trations and  the  same  price. 

AMERICAN  TRACT  SOCIETY.  NEW  YORK. 


IN  COMPLIANCE  WITH  CURRENT 

COPYRIGHT  LAW 

OCKER  &  TRAPP,  INC. 

AND 

PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

PRODUCED  THIS  REPLACEMENT  VOLUME 

ON  WEYERHAEUSER  COUGAR  OPAQUE  NATURAL  PAPER, 

THAT  MEETS  ANSI/NISO  STANDARDS  Z39. 48-1992 

TO  REPLACE  THE  IRREPARABLY 

DETERIORATED  ORIGINAL.       1998 


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